California governor’s staff member positive for COVID-19

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - A member of California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office staff tested positive for COVID-19 this week and contact tracing has begun, the office said in a statement Wednesday.

The staff member had not interacted with Newsom or with staff that routinely interacts with the governor, the statement said.

Separately, a state employee who works in a space shared with some staff from the governor’s office also tested positive for COVID-19 but the person also had not interacted with the governor or his close staff, the office said.

The governor’s office said it received word of both positive tests earlier this week and COVID-19 protocols for California state agencies were implemented.

“Under privacy laws, we cannot disclose the office location where these employees worked,” the statement said.

During a briefing Monday, Newsom said he has tested negative multiple times and would announce it if he did test positive.

The protocols for when a state employee was potentially positive at work include deep cleaning of shared spaces and asking those who interacted with the person or shared work spaces to isolate and seek testing, the office said.

The governor’s office said mask wearing is mandated, minimal staff is physically present at work, most meetings have been converted to video conferencing, and seating capacity is reduced when meetings can’t be done remotely.

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