By Jeff Mason
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Vice President Mike Pence’s press secretary Katie Miller said on Tuesday she was back at work after recovering from COVID-19, a case that helped encourage White House officials to start wearing masks and taking stricter safety precautions around President Donald Trump.
Miller, who is married to Trump’s hawkish immigration adviser and speech writer Stephen Miller, said she had returned after receiving three negative tests for the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.
“Thank you to all my amazing doctors and everyone who reached out with support. I couldn’t have done it without my amazing husband who took great care of his pregnant wife,” she said in a post on Twitter.
Miller contracted the virus in early May, raising alarm about the spread of the virus among Trump’s and Pence’s inner circle shortly after the president’s valet had also tested positive.
The two cases prompted the White House to direct staff to wear masks and take additional precautions.
Previously, despite admonitions to Americans to wear masks and follow social distancing guidelines, many administration officials were not doing so themselves at least at the White House, where testing was taking place regularly.
(Reporting by Jeff Mason; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
