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Brian Morgenstern, Undersecretary of the White House, tried to calm down. “Nobody goes crazy here,” he told Fox Across America radio station on Tuesday. All White House personnel would carry out their work “calmly and calmly.” However, it is questionable that Morgenstern can speak for all employees. There aren’t that many sitting at their desks in the White House right now. Most of his colleagues stayed home on Monday and Tuesday after new cases of employees infected with the coronavirus became known.
The White House has become a hotspot for the crown in a week. Acute, there are ten confirmed cases there and in the associated office complex, the west wing.
Journalists are cautioned not to enter the west wing
Less than a week has passed since Hope Hicks tested positive. She is a close adviser to the presidential couple and a friend of the Trump family. On Friday night it became known that Donald Trump and his wife Melania were infected with the corona virus. The president spent four days at Walter Reed Military Hospital before returning to the White House Monday night, far from being cured.
Trump’s personal assistant, Nicholas Luna, tested positive Sunday. On Monday, he hit Trump’s press officer Kayleigh McEnany. Her department is now heavily decimated. Four members of his press team are currently in isolation. The James S. Brady press conference room, where McEnany has held his daily press conferences, was completely disinfected Monday by a man in a white protective suit.
On Tuesday, Trump’s immigration adviser and key speechwriter Steve Miller reported that he had tested positive. His wife Katie Miller, a spokeswoman for Vice President Mike Pence, was infected in the spring.
In addition to these ten, there are at least 13 other cases in which people who have recently been in close contact with the White House have become infected. This includes former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. For four days, he helped Trump prepare for the television debate with Trump’s challenger, Joe Biden, last Tuesday. Christie is overweight and has asthma. He’s been in the hospital since Saturday. His current health is unknown.
Two reporters and a photojournalist were also infected. He was recently on tour with Trump or at least had close contact with the press team. The White House Correspondents Association now warns its members not to enter the west wing.
There are also two Republican senators, former Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway, a pastor, a valet, the president of the University of Notre Dame, Trump’s campaign manager Bill Stepien, GOP leader Ronna McDaniel and the Deputy Commander of the US Coast Guard, Admiral Charles Ray. The admiral’s infection has meant that the entire military leadership in the Joint Chiefs of Staff has now been quarantined as a precaution.
It is still not entirely clear when and where the next two dozen people will be infected with the virus. Obviously, this should remain the case. According to various media reports, the White House will not pursue the cases. Behind this could be concerns that Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination ceremony could be declared a super spreading event in hindsight.
Trump nominated Barrett to the Supreme Court, the highest court in the United States, eleven days ago in the Rose Garden of the White House. The more than 200 guests of honor sat shoulder to shoulder, hardly anyone wearing a mask. This also applied to the reception at the White House shortly before the ceremony. When it was all over, several of those present hugged and shook hands. Twelve people who were at this event now tested positive.
Basically, however, almost every event in the White House carried a risk of infection. The masks were officially prescribed, but they were frowned upon in the president’s environment. “If the whole west wing walks around in masks, it doesn’t look good,” an official told CNN.
Trump regularly questioned the usefulness of the mask and poked fun at the wearer of the mask, Joe Biden. When the president of the United States met with Biden for the first televised duel a week ago, the members of his family present refused to wear a mask. When Trump returned to the White House by helicopter Monday night, the first thing he did was remove his face mask on the balcony, visible to all cameras.
It’s questionable how seriously Trump takes the commandment that applies to all corona patients: They should stay away from healthy people as much as possible. When Trump left the military hospital on Monday, he was led into the crowd waiting in front of the hospital to greet them from the car with the window closed. According to medical experts, this unnecessary excursion put at least the two Secret Service employees who took him there at risk. This has caused frustration in the agency that guarantees the protection of presidents. “He doesn’t even pretend to be worried about us,” said a Washington Post official. the New York Times wrote Monday: “A new question arises for the Secret Service: Who will protect him from Trump?”
