CHICAGO — They came hoping for Beyoncé. They left with Covid. Fresh off of a jam-packed week of Democratic National Convention events, reports of attendees testing positive for Covid are rolling in.
That includes members of Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign staff, who are now contending with sickness from Covid, according to two sources close to the campaign with knowledge of the cases. There is at least some concern the developments could impact staffing at events this week, they added. One of the sources said that so far, the aides' symptoms they’ve heard about have been mild, and a third person close to the campaign said there was no concern about staffing the events.
Since the convention wrapped up on Thursday, various attendees and reporters posted photos of positive Covid results. “You put 20,000 people in an 18,000-person building, it’s bound to happen,” Jaimey Sexton, a Chicago political consultant who attended the convention and was involved in multiple related events. Sexton said he knew of people who personally now have Covid from the convention and have heard of even more anecdotally.
“You could ask anybody who was planning an event, they know somebody who has Covid.” The convention experienced overflow crowds at the United Center each day, particularly on Thursday, the night that Harris delivered her acceptance remarks. Before 8 p.
m. that evening, organizers announced the venue would be closed off because it was at capacity. There was much .