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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The press secretary of United States Vice President Mike Pence, wife of one of President Donald Trump’s top advisers, tested positive for the coronavirus, alarming the possible spread of the virus within the inner circle. from the White House.
Trump revealed the diagnosis of Katie Miller, who is married to White House immigration adviser and speechwriter Stephen Miller, at a meeting with Republican lawmakers on Friday, a day after the news that the personal valet from Trump had tested positive for the virus.
“Katie, she tried very well for a long period of time and then suddenly came back positive today,” Trump said, noting that he himself had not been in contact with her but had spent time with the vice president. “I understand that Mike has been evaluated … and tested negative.”
Despite Trump’s comments, the two cases in quick succession raised contagion fears for the President and Vice President, who are leading the US response. USA To the pandemic, and that business and travel schedules have resumed even when the death toll from the virus in the US USA exceeded 75,000.
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany sought Friday to defend the administration’s efforts to protect Trump and Pence, noting new measures taken by the White House, including seeking contacts and implementing all the guidelines. Recommended for essential workers.
“We have taken every precaution to protect the president,” McEnany told reporters at a White House briefing. He also noted regular cleanings and adherence to the six-foot distance guidelines among people who are not always followed in crowded White House events.
“We have done everything that Dr. (Deborah) Birx and Dr. (Anthony) Fauci have asked us to do,” he added, referring to highly respected physicians in the White House coronavirus workforce.
West Wing employees around Trump and Pence have not worn masks regularly.
Earlier Friday, Trump was asked in a Fox News interview if those who serve him food would now cover their faces. “They’ve already started,” he said on the network’s “Fox and Friends” morning show.
The White House has also instituted daily coronavirus testing, as opposed to weekly, for Trump and Pence. Both men tested negative for the virus and felt fine after the valet, a member of the military service who worked as an assistant to the White House, contracted the virus.
Trump told Fox News that he has not yet been tested for antibodies to the coronavirus, but will likely do so soon. Such a test could confirm previous exposure.
Trump and Pence keep busy public hours. The vice president, who chaired the coronavirus task force, traveled 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.
The news of the positive test for Pence’s aide led staff to disembark in Air Force 2 on Friday morning and briefly delayed takeoff.
“We went back and analyzed all of the person’s contacts most recently,” a senior official told reporters, according to a group report. Six individuals who may have been in contact with the infected aide were removed from the flight and then tested negative. Two of the individuals were members of the Pence press office.
Trump attended a public event at the World War II memorial with elderly veterans Friday where neither Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, or veterans or military officers seen at the ceremony wore masks.
Later, Trump met face-to-face with Republican members of Congress at the White House, where no masks were seen. Lawmakers were screened for the virus before the meeting.
DICTATORS, KINGS AND QUEENS
Protective face covers have been difficult to sell for Trump and Pence despite the Centers for Disease Control recommendation that people wear masks or alternatives.
Both Trump and Pence have been criticized for not wearing masks, and critics argue that they are setting a bad example for Americans.
Trump himself has said he would not wear a mask and has not worn it publicly at any of his events amid the pandemic, but he told reporters this week that he tried something behind the scenes during his visit to a Honeywell mask factory. in Arizona.
The virus, which first appeared in Wuhan, China, late last year, has infected more than a million Americans and led millions to unemployment as a result of blockade measures put in place to stem the rise in infections. .
(Additional report by Lisa Lambert and Tim Ahmann; Written by Alexandra Alper; edition by Chizu Nomiyama, Jonathan Oatis and Cynthia Osterman)
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