(Trends Wide)– US Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, who is vaccinated against covid-19, tested positive for the virus on Tuesday morning, according to department spokeswoman Marsha Espinosa.
“Secretary Mayorkas tested positive for COVID-19 this morning after taking a test as part of routine protocols prior to travel,” Espinosa said in a statement. “Secretary Mayorkas only experiences mild congestion; he is fully vaccinated and will isolate himself and work at home according to CDC and medical council protocols. Contact tracing is underway.”
Mayorkas was scheduled to travel to Colombia this week along with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, but will now work from home. During his stay in Bogotá, Blinken planned to co-lead a meeting between government officials to address migration issues with regional partners.
This is at least the second time that covid-19 has interrupted Mayorkas’ work schedule since he took office. In July, Mayorkas worked online after coming into contact with a Department of Homeland Security employee who subsequently tested positive for COVID-19. At the time, he had no symptoms and came back negative on two tests.
The secretary traveled to Mexico earlier this month and has participated in several face-to-face events in recent weeks. He attended an outdoor cybersecurity event last week and appeared at an outdoor Peace Officers Memorial Service on Saturday, where was with President Joe Biden, First Lady Jill Biden and FBI Director Christopher Wray.
A White House official told Trends Wide that “no White House director has been determined to be a close contact for Secretary Mayorkas, as the most recent contact was at the Fraternal Order of Policemen’s outdoor event, outside the 48-hour window of close contact. “
The news of Mayorkas’s positive result comes weeks after Biden imposed new and strict vaccination regulations on federal workers, large employers and healthcare personnel in an attempt to contain the latest wave of covid-19.
A key provision of the plan is to direct the Department of Labor to require all companies with 100 or more employees to ensure that their workers are vaccinated or tested once a week.
The president also signed a decree that requires all government employees to be vaccinated against covid-19, without the option to undergo periodic tests to choose not to be vaccinated, as well as a decree that orders the same standard to be applied to employees of contractors doing business with the federal government.
The Department of Homeland Security is working to comply with Biden’s decree by November 22, a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesperson previously told Trends Wide.
The department developed an online tool for staff to report their immunization status, a system that is available to all DHS employees except the Secret Service and the Coast Guard, which have their own information systems.
Although DHS declined to release interim vaccination rate data for the entire department, some of the department’s agencies have shared progress in vaccinating staff.
As of Tuesday, 89.1% of the active duty Coast Guard workforce is fully vaccinated, and 92.9% of the active duty workforce has received at least one dose, according to Lt. Commander Brittany Panetta, deputy director. US Coast Guard press release |
Mayorkas and the department have also been heavily involved in managing border travel needs and restrictions amid the pandemic.
Earlier this month, the administration announced plans to ease restrictions on cross-border travel for fully vaccinated visitors beginning in early November, relaxing bans that have been in place for more than 18 months.
The new rules, similar to those announced for international air passengers, will be applied in stages. The first phase, which will begin in early November, will allow fully vaccinated visitors traveling for non-essential reasons, such as visiting friends or sightseeing, to cross the US land borders. The second phase, which will begin in early January 2022, will apply the vaccination requirement to all incoming foreign travelers, whether they are traveling for essential or non-essential reasons.
“These new vaccination requirements implement the best tool we have in our arsenal to keep people safe and prevent the spread of Covid-19 and will create a consistent and strict protocol for all foreign nationals traveling to the United States, whether it be by land or by air, “a senior administration official previously told reporters.