[ad_1]
MANY INFECTED: Secret Service agents with President Donald Trump at the White House on Election Day. Photograph: TOM BRENNER / X06967
More than 130 Secret Service officials are said to be infected with coronavirus or in quarantine due to the Trump campaign, according to the Washington Post.
Among the many employees who have helped secure the White House and the President’s on their travels, more than 130 were recently asked to isolate or quarantine themselves, writes The Washington Post.
The reason is that they have tested positive for the virus or are close contacts of known cases of infection, according to the newspaper.
The outbreak is said to have left about 10 percent of security personnel and is related in part to several of the election campaign meetings that Trump held before the Nov.3 election.
This is in addition to the fact that a large number of people who worked with the Trump campaign and White House employees have become ill.
THE DAY BEFORE: Trump on his way to an election rally in Scranton, Pennsylvania, the day before the election. Photo: Thomas Nilsson / VG
A White House spokesman, Judd Deere, said the administration was taking “all incidents seriously.”
Several in the president’s inner circle are already known to be infected. They include Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and advisers Corey Lewandowski and David Bassie.
Additionally, at least eight members of the Republican National Committee must be infected, according to The Washington Post.
The outbreak comes at a time when the number of corona cases has risen sharply across the country, with more than 152,000 new cases, as reported Tuesday.
Trump had a busy travel schedule towards the end of the campaign period, with five stops in the past two days. On November 2 alone, the day before the election, the president’s plan called for five separate groups of Secret Service officials, each with more than 20 employees.
Secret Service agents with Trump at an earlier national meeting. Photo: Thomas Nilsson / VG
Joe Biden had two campaign stops on the same day. This also required Secret Service, but in smaller groups.
The Secret Service will investigate whether some of the contagion cases are not only related to travel in the last days before the elections, but may also stem from their stay in the White House.
Many White House staff members have avoided wearing face masks during the pandemic. It has also been seen without several Secret Service agents on duty.
The Secret Service has about 1,300 officials in charge of securing the White House and the vice president’s residence, as well as attending the president’s tours and other official events.
