Updated at 3:07 p.m.
Lt. Gov. Molly Gray has tested positive for Covid-19.
Gray, who is running for Vermont’s lone seat in the U.S. House, announced on Twitter that she tested positive for the virus Thursday morning. She is vaccinated and boosted, she said, and is quarantining at home.
Gray visited the White House earlier this week to meet with Vice President Kamala Harris and fellow lieutenant governors from throughout the country. Photos of the meetings show Gray and others without masks.
Gray also presided over the Vermont Senate on Wednesday in Montpelier and hosted students from Champlain College in her Statehouse office. She wore a mask in the Senate chamber, and photos of the meeting show her doing so in that setting, as well. Andrew Gillespie, her chief of staff, told VTDigger that “there were moments in her office when she removed her mask” on Wednesday.
The Legislature just this week relaxed its mask-wearing rules, making face coverings optional instead of mandatory in most areas within the Statehouse, with some exceptions.
Gillespie told VTDigger Thursday morning that Gray was experiencing mild cold-like symptoms.
Gray did not meet with members of Vermont’s congressional delegation while she was in D.C., according to both Gillespie and Samantha Sheehan, Gray’s congressional campaign manager.
Sheehan said Gray held in-person meetings with campaign staff this week, and those staffers tested negative as of Thursday morning. Gray attended several in-person campaign events in Bennington on Sunday. Photos and videos of the events posted on social media and published by the Bennington Banner show Gray without a mask.
In a copy of Gray’s schedule for the past week provided by Gillespie, Gray is shown to have been out of the office on Monday, meeting in D.C. all day Tuesday and presiding over the Senate and meeting with students on Wednesday.
