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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The return of US President Donald Trump to the White House on Monday night put the people who work in the building at greater risk of contracting COVID-19, the disease that killed more than 210,000 Americans, say doctors and health officials.
The most exposed may be the roughly half a dozen White House butlers who work on the second floor, where the private family residence is located, say former employees and a White House expert.
These jobs have traditionally been filled by mostly African American men who often stayed in the job for decades, explains Kate Andersen Brower, author of “The Residence: Inside the Private World of the White House.”
These men serve food directly to the First Family and must interact with them more closely and personally than almost anyone else in the building, Andersen Brower said.
Trump said he and his wife, Melania, tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday.
Eugene Allen, who served under eight presidents, was immortalized https://uk.reuters.com/article/film-the-butler-idINDEE97C0B820130813 in the 2013 film “The Butler,” starring Forest Whitaker, which plotted the American history from a deeply divided South in the 1920s, through desegregation, to the election of Barack Obama, the first African-American president.
The positions are filled by word of mouth: An existing butler would recommend a nephew or cousin for the job, Andersen Brower noted. Discretion is valued, and White House personnel who interact with the First Family rarely speak to the press.
Another handful of housekeepers, usually women, work directly in the family residence, change the presidents’ sheets, wash clothes and clean the bathrooms, but have less personal interaction with the First Family, he noted.
Since Trump and his wife tested positive, Residency staff “wear full PPE and continue to take all necessary precautions,” the Office of the First Lady said Tuesday, including regular testing.
Andersen Brower said he had spoken with several former Residence employees who said they were “terrified” for the health of their former colleagues who remain at work.
The White House also employs dozens more staff, including chefs, valet, butlers and cleaners, responsible for maintaining the more than 100-room, six-story building and caring for its residents and guests.
At least two members of the cleaning staff have contracted the virus, the New York Times reported Monday.
When the US closed business and traveled for the first time to stop the spread of the coronavirus in March, many of those permanent employees were given time off and have been working reduced hours since the administration held few official events, according to two. people familiar with their schedules.
More than 400 other people work for the Executive Office of the President, according to a July 2020 report https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/July-1-2020-Report-FINAL. pdf to Congress, including travel managers, press secretaries, policy advisers, lawyers, and a chief calligrapher. Not all of these people work directly in the White House building.
Several of these office staff members, including the White House press secretary, tested positive for the disease in recent days.
The White House has plans and procedures that incorporate current CDC guidelines and best practices to limit exposure to COVID-19, White House spokesman Judd Deere told Reuters.
(Reporting by Heather Timmons and Daphne Psaledakis, additional reporting by Andrea Shalal; written by Heather Timmons; edited by Lisa Shumaker)
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