Biden will take additional precautions at White House Correspondents Dinner as Covid anxiety rises
CNN
President Joe Biden will take extra precautions to avoid catching Covid-19 at this weekend's White House Correspondents Dinner as anxiety about a potential superspreader event rises ahead of the widely attended gala.
Biden will skip the meal portion of the event, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Wednesday, and will opt to wear a mask when he's not speaking. In recent weeks, the President has mostly been unmasked at crowded White House events, but those events had lower attendance than the dinner on Saturday, which is expected to have more than 2,000 people.
The annual black tie dinner -- hosted by comedian Trevor Noah -- returns on Saturday after a two-year hiatus, and Biden's attendance marks the first time a sitting president has been at the event with members of the press since 2016. Concerns that it could become a superspreader have risen in Washington following the annual Gridiron Dinner weeks ago, after which dozens of attendees tested positive. The White House Correspondents Association is taking health precautions that dinner did not, including Covid testing requirements for attendees.
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