Gov. JB Prtizker, Staff Test Negative For COVID-19 After Possible Exposure

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Gov. JB Pritzker tested negative for COVID-19 Friday afternoon, his office announced Saturday. Pritzker and staff who attended a meeting Monday where they were exposed to someone who tested positive for the novel coronavirus were self-isolating.

This was the second negative test result for the governor and staff after they underwent their weekly test on Wednesday, according to a release from his office.

Those who attended the meeting are not considered close contacts because they met with the individual more than 48 hours before symptom onset and will not be required to quarantine for 14 days.

It's the third time Pritzker isolated this year after a potential exposure to the virus. Three times earlier this year, staffers in the governor's office tested positive for the virus, twice prompting Pritzker to work from home for two weeks.

In late September, a senior staffer who had been traveling with the governor across the state over several days began feeling sick and tested positive for the virus. The governor and others in his office who had close contact with that staffer self-isolated for two weeks.

The governor and his top staff also self-isolated for two weeks in May, after a senior staffer tested positive for the coronavirus, but was asymptomatic.

A third staffer in the governor's office also tested positive for COVID-19 in April, but did not have regular close contact with Pritzker, so the governor did not self-isolate in that instance.

The staffers who tested positive have all since recovered.