Has Trump been exposed to the coronavirus?
- Lawmakers potentially exposed to a person with the novel coronavirus had contact with US president
- Incoming Trump chief of staff to also self-quarantine as a precaution
US President Donald Trump has not been tested for coronavirus, the White House said, despite indirect contact through at least two lawmakers.
White House officials announced late Monday that the president had not been tested after a series of encounters with lawmakers who had contact with others who had tested positive for the virus. Top among those was Republican congressman Matt Gaetz, who announced he was placing himself in quarantine less than an hour after getting off Air Force One.
“The president has not received Covid-19 testing because he has neither had prolonged close contact with any known confirmed Covid-19 patients, nor does he have any symptoms,” White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said. “President Trump remains in excellent health, and his physician will continue to closely monitor him.”
During a briefing at the White House on Monday, Vice-President Mike Pence said he didn’t know whether or not the president was tested. Pence said he was not tested.
“I’ve had no recommendation that I will be tested,” Pence said.
“The White House physicians, their directive is to see to the health and well-being of the president of the United States.”
Though there is zero indication the president has been exposed to the virus there have been several circumstances in which it has come close to him. Gaetz said Monday that he had come into contact with a person who tested positive at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Maryland late last month. He flew with Trump aboard Air Force One from Florida back to Joint Base Andrews outside Washington, DC, on Monday.
Days before, Republican congressman Doug Collins announced he had placed himself in quarantine, he was seen meeting with Trump at the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, shaking the president’s hands on the tarmac before the visit.
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Both Collins and Gaetz said they had no symptoms.
Gaetz last week wore a gas mask to the House vote on the emergency funding bill for the virus response and said he wanted to highlight how Congress could become “Petri dish” for the virus.
Five US lawmakers have now said they are distancing themselves from others after coming in contact with coronavirus-infected individuals.
The other three are Republican Senator Ted Cruz and Republican congressman Paul Gosar, both of whom also were exposed at the CPAC conference, and Democratic congresswoman Julia Brownley.
Trump’s incoming chief of staff, Mark Meadows, also went into self-quarantine Monday after learning he may also have been exposed at the same conference. Meadows was named Friday to become Trump’s new chief of staff, replacing Mick Mulvaney.
Although he is not exhibiting symptoms, and a precautionary test came back negative, “he’ll be self-quarantined till the 14 day period passes Wednesday,” his spokesman said on Twitter.
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“You can’t be a politician and not shake hands,” Trump said at the town hall in Scranton, Pennsylvania, on Thursday. “The bottom line is, I shake anybody’s hand now. I’m proud of it.”
The spreading virus also raises questions over whether Trump will be able to continue holding the large rallies at the heart of his re-election campaign.
Stories of new cases flooded in across the country – from a Washington DC church rector to the head of New York’s ports authority, while some stores ran out of hand sanitiser and masks.
On the West Coast – where most of the US deaths have occurred – the Grand Princess cruise ship docked at California’s port of Oakland, for more than 2,400 passengers to be taken into
Since the epidemic began, Trump has veered between defending his government from accusations of incompetence to accusing Democrats and the media of exaggerating the outbreak in an attempt to hurt his standing.
The crisis has seen him struggle to retain control over his messaging that he will ride the booming economy to certain victory in November.
On Sunday, he retweeted a meme showing himself playing the violin and the caption: “My next piece is called nothing can stop what’s coming.”
Trump apparently meant the meme in jest and said himself he didn’t know “what this means”.
Critics quickly branded it the portrait of a modern Nero – the mad emperor famous for fiddling while Rome burned.
Trump said he would hold a press conference to discuss the measures on Tuesday, adding the coronavirus – which has infected hundreds and killed 26 people in the US – has “blindsided the world”.
The run on stock market prices robbed Trump of one of his main talking points ahead of the November presidential election. The Dow Jones closed 7.8 per cent lower in the worst session since 2008.
And with pictures of a virus-hit cruise ship constantly on live television, Trump’s tweet Monday that “life & the economy go on” seemed increasingly out of touch.
Trump’s “reckless statements are confusing people in this country and all over the world,” Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders said on the campaign trail in Michigan.
Tribune News Service, Agence France-Presse, Associated Press
