May 10, 2020 at 11:12 PM EDT 6park.com
Navy’s top officer to self-quarantine after contact with family member who tested positive


FILE PHOTO: Navy Adm. Michael Gilday, chief of naval operations, arrives to testify to the Senate Armed Services Committee about military housing on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., December 3, 2019. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts/File Photo (Joshua Roberts/Reuters) 6park.com
Adm. Michael Gilday, the Navy’s top officer, will be self-quarantining this week after coming into contact with a family member who tested positive for the novel coronavirus, the Department of Defense confirmed Sunday. 6park.com
Gilday, 57, has tested negative, a Defense Department spokesman told The Washington Post in a statement. According to CNN, the chief of naval operations was tested Friday but still did not attend a Saturday meeting at the White House with other senior military leaders and President Trump. 6park.com
Gen. Joseph Lengyel, chief of the National Guard Bureau, was also not at the meeting, CNN reported. 6park.com
Lengyel tested positive for covid-19 on Saturday afternoon, but a subsequent test that same day came back negative, the Defense Department spokesman told The Post. 6park.com
“He will undergo a third test on Monday morning to confirm his negative status,” the spokesman said. 6park.com
The news about Gilday and Lengyel comes amid heightened fears about the possibility of a coronavirus outbreak at the White House, where two staffers — Vice President Pence’s press secretary, Katie Miller, and an unidentified personal valet to Trump — recently tested positive. 6park.com
Gilday joins the growing list of politicians and administration officials who have announced that they are self-quarantining after potentially being exposed to the virus. 6park.com
Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Stephen Hahn, commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, said they would self-quarantine or telework for two weeks because of exposure to a coronavirus case at the White House, The Post reported Saturday. On Sunday, Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) said he would be self-quarantining “out of an abundance of caution” after one of his staff members tested positive. 6park.com
Meanwhile, others including Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s top infectious diseases expert, are taking greater precautions but will not completely isolate themselves. 6park.com
Dan Lamothe and Hannah Knowles contributed to this report. 6park.com