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White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows gestures as United States President Donald Trump (not seen) hosts a Make America Great Again event at Gastonia Municipal Airport on October 21, 2020 in North Carolina, United States.
Peter Zay / Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, who has frequently appeared at public events without wearing a mask, has been diagnosed with Covid-19, a source familiar with the situation told Reuters.
It was not immediately clear when or how he was infected.
Another top campaign assistant, Nick Trainer, also tested positive for the virus, according to the source.
Meadows, Trump’s top adviser and former North Carolina legislator, regularly accompanied US President Donald Trump in the frenzied final days of campaign rallies leading up to Tuesday’s presidential election.
Meadows, who was at an election night party at the White House attended by dozens of Trump loyalists, is the latest official within Trump’s inner circle to contract Covid-19, which has killed more than 236,000. Americans.
Trump has regularly downplayed the severity of the virus, which has increased in recent weeks and is prepared to continue to do so through the winter. He has contradicted the public statements of leading health experts, even after an outbreak gripped the White House in October.
The president was briefly hospitalized at the time he was infected with the virus. His wife and son Barron also tested positive for the coronavirus in October.
His national security adviser, Robert O’Brien, also fell ill with the virus. Another friend of Trump, former Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain, died of the coronavirus in July after attending one of Trump’s rallies.
