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A staff member of United States Vice President Mike Pence tested positive for the new coronavirus, briefly delayed his Friday flight to Iowa, and caused some passengers to disembark in Air Force Two, according to a White House official.
Pence’s flight was delayed more than an hour on Friday morning, and according to reports from the press group, passengers who were members of Pence’s staff appeared to disembark before departure. It was not immediately clear if the infected employee had been aboard Air Force Two on Friday morning.
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Friday’s positive case was the second in so many days. President Donald Trump said Friday that certain White House staff members had started wearing face masks because his personal valet tested positive for the new coronavirus on Thursday.
Trump, asked if those serving him food would now cover their faces, told Fox News in an interview that White House staff had already made that change.
“They have already started,” he said on the network’s Fox and Friends morning show.
On Thursday, the White House said Trump and Vice President Mike Pence tested negative for the virus and felt good after the US military staff member. USA Working at the White House as a valet tested positive for the virus. He also said that the two leaders would now be evaluated daily rather than weekly.
Trump has said he would not wear a mask and that he has not worn a mask publicly at any of his events so far during the COVID-19 pandemic, but told reporters this week that he tried something behind the scenes during his visit to the Honeywell Face Mask Factory in Arizona.
“In greeting presidents, prime ministers, dictators, kings, queens … I don’t see it for myself, I just don’t,” Trump said in early April when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention began recommending the use of masks. to stop the spread of the coronavirus.
The virus, which first appeared in Wuhan, China late last year, killed more than 75,000 Americans and caused unemployment for millions of people as a result of closure measures to stem the rise in infections.
Blocking measures are being eased in some states, but many still require the use of masks.
Both Trump and Vice President Mike Pence have been criticized for not wearing face masks, and critics argue that they are setting a bad example for Americans.
Pence did not wear a mask while visiting coronavirus patients during a recent visit to the famous Minnesota Mayo Clinic, noting that he was frequently tested for the disease. But then he said that he should have used one, saying that it also has symbolic weight.
The vice president, who chaired the White House coronavirus task force that Trump said this week he was going to downsize before reversing course to keep it, was traveling to Iowa on Friday to meet with religious leaders for “responsible” meetings and to discuss food supply at the headquarters of the Midwest supermarket chain Hy-Vee Inc.
Trump attended a public event at the World War II memorial on Friday before meeting with Republican members of Congress at the White House, according to the White House.
The Republican president also told Fox News that he has not yet been tested for antibodies to the new coronavirus, but will likely do so soon. Such a test could confirm previous exposure to the virus.
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