WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden’s plans to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day were scrambled Thursday after Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin tested positive for COVID-19.
Biden was supposed to host Martin for a day of festivities, but those events have been reimagined as the Irish leader isolates at Blair House across the street from the White House.
Martin sat out the annual “Friends of Ireland Luncheon” at the Capitol.
Biden will go ahead with a White House reception planned for Thursday evening, but Martin will not attend.
Martin attended a gala on Wednesday and sat with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Pelosi said aides pulled Martin aside after learning he tested positive for the virus.
The House Speaker, who is vaccinated and boosted, said she wasn't concerned for her health because Martin had a mask on and only took it off to eat before being pulled away.
Pelosi added that she gets tested for COVID-19 almost every day.