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Biden tests negative for Covid amid scramble to trace Trump team contacts Scramble under way in Washington to trace spread of Covid among US leadership
(about 1 hour later)
White House rushes to assess spread of virus in top US ranks after Trump tests positive Donald Trump’s positive test after hectic week puts White House into crisis mode
A scramble is under way in Washington to determine how far coronavirus infection has spread in the top ranks of US leadership after Donald Trump tested positive, in a week that included a presidential debate, political rallies and White House meetings with Congress.A scramble is under way in Washington to determine how far coronavirus infection has spread in the top ranks of US leadership after Donald Trump tested positive, in a week that included a presidential debate, political rallies and White House meetings with Congress.
The White House said its medical unit had begun contact tracing on Thursday. Among those who may have been exposed is the Democratic challenger for the presidency, Joe Biden, who stood a few metres away from Trump for the 90 minutes of Tuesday night’s televised debate. Epidemiologists said that if Trump tested positive on Thursday morning he could have been infectious at that time. The Democratic challenger for the presidency, Joe Biden, tested negative on Friday after fears he could have been infected at Tuesday’s debate with Trump in Cleveland. Further tests will be required as it can take several days after initial exposure to the virus for symptoms, and a positive test result, to emerge.
The two candidates did not shake hands under Covid rules, and their lecterns were about 3 metres apart, but for the majority of the debate the president was speaking, sometimes at high volume, in Biden’s direction in an indoor venue in Cleveland. A large White House contingent travelled to and from Ohio at close quarters in Air Force One without masks. The administration began a contact-trace operation on Thursday and the scale of the search widened as it became clear that Trump had continued campaigning after Hope Hicks, a close adviser, had tested positive. Some senior officials did not find out until Thursday night, when they were informed by journalists about Hicks. It is not known who infected Trump or Hicks.
Saskia Popescu, an epidemiologist and assistant professor at the George Mason University, said it was “entirely possible” Biden had been exposed, as Trump would have been infectious for 48 hours before testing positive. Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff, said on Friday: “I fully expect that as this virus continues to go on other people in the White House will certainly have a positive test result.”
Also on the list for possible exposure is the vice-president, Mike Pence, the White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, Trump’s pick for the supreme court, Amy Coney Barrett, and the Senate Republicans they visited this week to prepare for Barrett’s confirmation hearings. Pence tested negative for the virus on Friday morning and remains in good health, his spokesman said. Meadows said that some “core staff” had tested negative, including himself, his deputy for communications, Dan Scavino, and the president’s son-in-law and adviser, Jared Kushner. He did not name anyone that tested positive. Meadows was briefing the press without wearing a mask.
The list also include Trump’s children and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, along with other senior White House staffers who accompanied Trump from Washington to the Cleveland debate and back. Few if any of them are reported to have worn masks on Air Force One. On Friday it was revealed that the president of Notre Dame University, John Jenkins, had tested positive. Jenkins had attended a event in the White House Rose Garden on Saturday for the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett as a supreme court justice. Guests were seen hugging and kissing at the event with very few masks visible. Barrett herself tested negative, the White House said on Friday.
The extent of the spread of Covid in the top tier of US politics will depend on when the president, Melania Trump and Trump’s adviser Hope Hicks became infected. The Vice-president, Mike Pence, tested negative for the virus on Friday morning and remains in good health, his spokesman said. The state department confirmed that the secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, currently traveling in Europe, also tested negative, and the Pentagon confirmed the defence secretary, Mark Esper, had a negative test result.
Hicks tested positive on Wednesday after feeling unwell at a Trump rally in Minnesota. According to the New York Times, a small group of White House officials were aware of the result on Wednesday evening. Hicks flew back from Minnesota in a separate cabin on Air Force One and exited from the back of the plane. Trump’s children along with other senior White House staffers accompanied Trump from Washington to the Cleveland debate and back. Trump’s entourage wore masks as they entered the debate venue on Wednesday evening but then most took them off in defiance of the recommendation of the debate organisers. None of them are reported to have worn masks on Air Force One.
Despite the fact that the White House knew about Hicks’s condition, Trump travelled to New Jersey for a fundraising event on Thursday, and his press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, held a briefing for journalists. The extent of the spread of Covid in the top tier of US politics will depend on when the president, Melania Trump and Hicks became infected.
According to the New York Times, Hicks began to feel unwell at a Trump rally in Minnesota on Wednesday. Sheflew back in a separate cabin on Air Force One and exited from the back of the plane.
By Meadows account, Hicks’s positive test was confirmed on Thursday as the president’s helicopter, Marine One, was taking off on the way to a fundraising event in New Jersey. He said “we actually pulled some of the people that had been traveling and in close contact”. But the president went ahead with the event, and his press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, held a briefing for journalists, in which she did not mention Hicks’s test result.
As she had accompanied Trump on trips all week, Hicks should have been tested every day. However, if she was symptomatic from Covid infection on Wednesday, that raises questions about the testing. Normally symptoms do not appear for several days after infection, so it is possible Hicks was given false negative results from tests earlier in the week. The White House uses the Abbott ID Now test, which has been found to produce a significant percentage of false negatives.As she had accompanied Trump on trips all week, Hicks should have been tested every day. However, if she was symptomatic from Covid infection on Wednesday, that raises questions about the testing. Normally symptoms do not appear for several days after infection, so it is possible Hicks was given false negative results from tests earlier in the week. The White House uses the Abbott ID Now test, which has been found to produce a significant percentage of false negatives.
Pence attended a meeting at the White House on Monday but did not travel with Trump to Cleveland for the debate. However, he has been in close proximity to Meadows since then. Meadows has, in turn, been in daily close contact with Hicks and the president. Senior White House officials accompanied Barrett to a series of meetings with Republican senators starting on Tuesday. A photograph from Tuesday morning showed Pence, Meadows, Barrett and the White House counsel, Pat Cipollone, meeting the Republican Senate leader, Mitch McConnell. In the photograph, none of them are wearing masks.
Pence and Meadows have accompanied Barrett to a series of meetings with Republican senators starting on Tuesday. A photograph from Tuesday morning showed Pence, Meadows, Barrett and the White House counsel, Pat Cipollone, meeting the Republican Senate leader, Mitch McConnell. In the photograph, none of them are wearing masks.