CBS President and CEO George Cheeks examined constructive for COVID-19 on Thursday, the corporate confirmed Friday. Cheeks was seated subsequent to President Biden on the White Home Correspondents Affiliation dinner final Saturday, however Mr. Biden has since examined damaging for the virus.
Cheeks, who's totally vaccinated and boosted, is feeling superb and dealing from residence, the corporate mentioned.
Cheeks, who oversees CBS Information, Sports activities, Leisure and CBS Studios, adopted all screening protocols and examined damaging earlier than the dinner, the corporate mentioned. He examined damaging on the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday after the dinner earlier than testing constructive on Thursday.
The White Home Correspondents' Affiliation dinner returned final weekend after being sidelined by the pandemic in 2020 and 2021. Mr. Biden was the primary president in six years to simply accept an invite to the occasion, which this 12 months featured comic Trevor Noah.
The annual dinner is the primary income for the White Home Correspondents' Affiliation, which contains a whole lot of print, broadcast, digital and radio journalists. This 12 months, the affiliation's president is CBS Information' Steven Portnoy.
The affiliation instituted a number of COVID protocols for the dinner, requiring attendees to be totally vaccinated and current a same-day damaging antigen check. Nonetheless, a number of journalists who attended have since examined constructive, as has Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
When discussing Blinken's constructive check on Wednesday, White Home press secretary Jen Psaki mentioned Mr. Biden is examined commonly, and had examined damaging on Tuesday.
Final week, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the president's chief medical adviser, applauded the protection protocols that have been deliberate for the occasion, however opted to not attend himself after making a private evaluation in regards to the threat.