Attention turns to Trump as second person he met tests positive for coronavirus
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U.S. President Donald Trump encountered a second individual last weekend who later tested positive for coronavirus, but the president did not require testing for the virus or quarantining, the White House physician said on Friday.
Trump last weekend dined with a group that included Brazil’s communications secretary, Fabio Wajngarten, who Brazilian officials say has now been tested positive for coronavirus.
White House physician Dr Sean P. Conley said another guest at the dinner at Mar-a-Lago whom the president briefly came in contact with started to show symptoms of COVID-19 three days later and has since been confirmed with the virus.
The encounter was “low risk” and there was no need for the president to “home quarantine,” Conley said in a statement late on Friday.
“The President’s exposure to the first individual was extremely limited (photograph, handshake) and though he spent more time in closer proximity to the second case, all interactions occurred before any symptom onset,” he said.
President Donald Trump said Friday he would “likely” receive a coronavirus test “fairly soon” even as he minimized the prospects of having contracted the virus from a Brazilian press aide who later tested positive.
“We’re working on a schedule,” he said during a Friday afternoon event in the White House Rose Garden, adding that he has no symptoms and barely spent time with the official who now has the virus.
The White House said a day earlier that neither Trump nor Vice President Mike Pence would be tested themselves, despite coming into contact with two aides to Bolsonaro who did test positive. The Brazilian Embassy in Washington said on Friday that Brazilian Chargé d’Affaires Nestor Forster tested positive for coronavirus. Forster sat at the same table as Trump during a dinner at Mar-a-Lago last weekend. Another member of the delegation that came on the US trip, Brazilian Sen. Nelsinho Trad, said on Friday he has tested positive for the coronavirus as well.
Meanwhile, the US House of Representatives has approved a multi-billion dollar aid package that provides free testing and paid leave for people affected by COVID-19. The bill now moves to the Senate.
