Kamala Harris' Cleveland Visit Canceled; 2 Staffers Test Positive

CLEVELAND — Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris has canceled her planned visit to Cleveland on Friday after two campaign officials tested positive for the coronavirus along with a third, non-campaign worker.

Details on Harris' visit had not yet been announced, although the campaign said she planned to speak to Northeast Ohioans on Friday. Harris also canceled planned stops in North Carolina. Those trips have been nixed because two people associated with her campaign have tested positive for the coronavirus, The Associated Press reported.

The campaign said Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden had no exposure, although he and Harris spent several hours campaigning together in Arizona on Oct. 8.

The campaign told reporters Thursday morning that Harris' communications director and a traveling staff member for her trip to Arizona tested positive after that Oct. 8 trip.

Campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon said “neither of these individuals had any contact with Vice President Biden, with Sen. Harris or any other staff member since testing positive or in the 48-hour period prior to their positive test results.” But O’Malley Dillon said Harris would suspend travel for several days “out of an abundance of caution.”

On Thursday afternoon, the campaign announced that a third person connected to the campaign also tested positive. That person is an aviation company employee who was on Biden's plane for trips to Ohio and Florida earlier this week but who entered the back of the plane and sat far away from Biden, according to the campaign.

The campaign announced the third case as part of its contact tracing efforts from the first two cases.

Harris and Biden spent several hours together that day through multiple campaign stops, private meetings and a joint appearance in front of reporters at an airport. They were masked at all times in public, and aides said they were masked in private, as well. Biden and Harris have each had multiple negative tests since then. Harris has had two tests since Oct. 8, most recently Wednesday, O’Malley Dillon said. Biden’s last announced negative test was Tuesday.

Biden is scheduled to attend an ABC News town hall Thursday airing live at 8 p.m. EDT.

Recent polls show the race in Ohio tightening into a toss-up, so further candidate visits from both parties are possible. However, the continued threat of the coronavirus has complicated stumping for both parties.

Biden is currently leading Michigan and Wisconsin, according to the Baldwin Wallace Great Lakes Poll. Biden and Harris are in a dead heat with incumbents Donald Trump and Mike Pence in Pennsylvania and Ohio, the poll shows.

"Although the percentage of undecided voters seems small — ranging from 4% in Ohio to 6% in Wisconsin — Trump won Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin by razor-thin margins," said Lauren Copeland, Baldwin Wallace University.

Reporting from the Associated Press was used in this article.