POLITICO Playbook: Biden’s testing mess

The novel coronavirus is raging through Washington, D.C., which on Wednesday registered the highest per-capita rate of daily new cases in the country.

At the White House, both President JOE BIDEN and VP KAMALA HARRIS had close contacts this week with staffers who later tested positive for the coronavirus. In a statement Wednesday night, Harris spokesperson SYMONE SANDERS revealed that an aide who staffed Harris throughout the day Tuesday tested positive for the virus Wednesday morning despite testing negative in the days beforehand. (Both Biden and Harris subsequently tested negative after their potential exposures.) Meanwhile, White House reporters have been told by the White House Correspondents Association to stay away from the briefing room if they can.

In Congress, every day brings a new trickle of lawmakers who announce they have tested positive for the coronavirus. The latest is House Majority Whip JIM CLYBURN (D-S.C.), who is 81 years old and will be forced to miss his daughter’s wedding.

The virus is sweeping through D.C. public schools. One local public high school informed parents Wednesday evening that it had 57 new positive cases. Several schools went virtual for their last day before winter break because so many teachers and staff are quarantining.

We have heard from local physicians shocked by the number of triple-vaxxed Covid-19 patients they’ve seen this week. Mayor MURIEL BOWSER, who only recently lifted the city’s indoor mask mandate, reinstated it this week, and added D.C.’s first vaccine-check mandate for many businesses.

The spike in cases sent Washingtonians scrambling for coronavirus tests ahead of holiday travel and gatherings with family and friends — and prompted some to endure long lines in the cold to get free tests at new city distribution sites.

Prominent hosts for marquee holiday events are canceling or tightening their Covid protocols. The British Embassy recently sent out an invitation to a black-tie New Year’s Eve party at Ambassador KAREN PIERCE’s home. The invitation was welcoming to the unvaxxed: “We ask that non-vaccinated guests continue to observe the CDC recommended mask policy.” But with Omicron raging, the embassy will now require guests at the heated outdoor “supper and dancing” soiree to be vaccinated and test negative for the coronavirus within 24 hours of showing up.

BIDEN’S TESTING MESS — In an interview that aired Wednesday, ABC’s DAVID MUIR asked Biden about the administration’s widely criticized failure to make coronavirus testing cheap and widely accessible. From ABC’s write-up of the interview:

“Muir pressed Biden on why tests were not available before the Christmas rush, with the omicron variant now detected in all 50 states.

“‘Three days before Christmas, if you look out across the country, you see it everywhere, these long lines, people waiting for hours outside in the cold, just to get tested, to be reassured before they spend time with their family,’…