Two weeks after the coronavirus spread in the White House, employees began returning to the West Wing, saying they had only mild symptoms and refusing to use masks again despite criticism that they had been neglectful about the outbreak.
With US President Donald Trump declaring himself immune after his own bout with COVID-19 that required hospitalization, his aides in the White House, his election campaign and the Republican National Committee are steadily recovering from the disease that marginalized many of them just weeks before. November 3rd elections.
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Trump returned to his campaign trajectory on Monday and is set to make trips throughout the week in an effort to make up for lost time receiving treatment as Democratic challenger Joe Biden campaigned.
A White House official said that most of those affected by the outbreak showed mild symptoms, and that the White House was “extremely lucky.”
The official said Press Secretary Kylie McNani has not returned to the White House since her diagnosis but is hoping to do so by the end of the week.
Hop Hicks, Trump’s senior adviser whose diagnosis was the first to be announced in the wave that struck his close circle at the start of the month, has not yet returned to the White House. She said she feels better.
Caroline Levitt, the assistant press secretary, is back after showing mild symptoms. Other press assistants such as Harrison Fields, Jalen Drummond, and Chad Gilmartin are not.
Trump faced widespread criticism for downplaying the epidemic in its early stages and for ignoring the severity of the disease.
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He has largely refused to wear the mask himself and has criticized others, including Biden, for doing so, while presiding over the White House as employees, secret services and others have refused to use masks routinely throughout the worst of the pandemic.
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Ahead of Trump’s trip to Iowa on Wednesday, White House employees wandered around the West Wing without wearing masks, sidestepping the precautions that were put in place in the wake of Trump’s diagnosis once the virus spread.
White House spokesperson Judd Deer said the White House is following guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on masks.
“We have incorporated current CDC guidelines and best practices to reduce exposure to COVID-19 to the extent possible, including staying home if you are positive or have symptoms, social distancing, good hygiene, and covering the face,” he said, adding that this is positive. Cases are taken “seriously,” while the White House Medical Unit leads a “robust” program to trace contacts with CDC staff and counseling.
“But the basic work of the White House and the federal government must continue, which sometimes requires essential office personnel, and when that happens, every precaution is taken to protect the health of the president, themselves, and the entire community.”
Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who spent a week in hospital receiving treatment, appeared to be among the worst hit by the virus within Trump’s circle. He tweeted on Saturday that he had been discharged from hospital.
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The White House declined to comment on reports that White House Security Chief Credi Bailey was severely ill with the COVID-19 virus and was hospitalized in late September.
The White House did not provide updates on the health of specific officials.
Campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh said Trump’s campaign manager Bill Stephen “has fully recovered and is back in the office.”
Rona McDaniel, chair of the Republican National Committee, said she was feeling “much better” after contracting the virus and was planning to travel again on Thursday.
More than 216,000 people have died from COVID-19 in the US alone.
Trump’s diagnosis placed the epidemic again at the center of the 2020 campaign and gave Biden an additional opportunity to entrap the president, while wishing him a speedy recovery, for his failure to develop a national strategy to defeat the rapidly spreading disease.
Trump has held rallies with thousands of people who do not engage in social distancing or frequently wear face coverings.
The White House Rose Garden event to announce the Supreme Court nomination for Judge Amy Connie Barrett is suspected to be the root cause of a number of injuries in Trump’s inner circle.
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The university said in a statement earlier this week that Notre Dame President Reverend John I. Jenkins, who tested positive after attending the event, ended his quarantine period Monday and is symptom-free.
Even as many in Trump’s inner circle appear to improve, new reports of the disease still plague the White House as it seeks to turn the page. Trish, the wife of Labor Minister Eugene Scalia, who is said to have also attended the Rose Garden event, was confirmed on Tuesday. On Wednesday, First Lady Melania Trump, who has suffered from mild symptoms of COVID-19, announced that her son Barron had tested positive for the virus but was later tested negative.
“Fortunately, he’s a strong teenager and he’s not showing any symptoms,” she said in a statement. “He’s fine,” Trump told reporters outside the White House later.
(Prepared by Jeff Mason and Alexandra Alper; Editing by Aurora Ellis)
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