Richmond recently traveled to Atlanta to hold a campaign event Tuesday in the Senate election in Georgia, where President-elect Joe Biden was also present.
Bedingfield said Thursday Biden did PCR testing for Covid-19 and that the virus was not detected.
“Richmond’s interactions with the president-elect took place outdoors, masked and totaled less than 15 consecutive minutes, the CDC’s term of contact,” Bedingfield said.
According to Bedingfield, the congressman traveled to Georgia on his own and not with the president-elect.
Richmond is expected to be quarantined for 14 days and will have to give a negative result in two PCR tests before returning for any face-to-face work in Congress or in transition, Bedingfield said.
Richmond showed symptoms Wednesday and did a quick test, which came back positive, according to Bedingfield. He said Thursday, according to his standard protocol, Richmond took a PCR test, which also tested positive.
Richmond told CNN’s Don Lemon in a phone interview that he had mild symptoms and no fever after testing positive for Covid-19.
Richmond said he is in quarantine at home and will remain in quarantine for at least 10 days. He added that he is following all the rules of the Biden transition and its Covid protocols.
Richmond told Lemon that he saw Biden at the rally on Tuesday and that they were out, they didn’t get very close and they both wore masks.
“I feel good, mild symptoms and no fever,” he said.
Bedingfield said that after the quick test turned positive, the transition team immediately began tracking contacts and “determined that he was in close CDC-defined contact with two people, none of whom are Biden staff, Warnock or Ossoff. ” The two people have been notified and have become self-quarantined, he said.
Last month, the Biden transition team announced that Richmond would join the Biden White House and leave the House seat it had held since 2011. The congressman said he would resign his seat before May 20. January, the day of Biden’s inauguration.
Richmond is a former president of the Black Caucus of Congress and was co-chair of the Biden presidential campaign. He was one of the first supporters of Biden’s presidential candidacy and a substitute for the campaign.
The congressman is currently the president of the Black Caucus Foundation of Congress and is a member of the House Ways and Means Committee. He is a member of the New Democratic Coalition and serves as a Democratic aide to the Majority Whip House.
This story has been updated with more information about Richmond and its positive outcome.