President Donald Trump mentioned he has been examined for coronavirus, a precaution taken after he was in bodily contact with individuals who ha
President Donald Trump mentioned he has been examined for coronavirus, a precaution taken after he was in bodily contact with individuals who have since tested positive for the virus.
Throughout a Saturday press convention, Trump mentioned he was examined on Friday after strain from the media and others who mentioned he ought to.
Regardless of days of White House denials that he didn’t must be examined as a result of he wasn’t uncovered for lengthy intervals of time — together with in a memo from his physician — it appears both Trump or his medical group modified their thoughts.
It’s a superb factor they did, too.
Final Saturday, Trump met with a top Brazilian official at Mar-a-Lago who has since tested positive for Covid-19. A picture posted by the official, Fabio Wajngarten, rapidly circulated on social media. It confirmed Trump standing proper subsequent to Wajngarten and holding a “Make Brazil Nice Once more” hat that the official had presumably handed him. Two Republican senators who individually met with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro self-quarantined after the information.
Within the final week, Trump has also had direct contact with two Republican Congress members simply earlier than they self-quarantined as a result of their publicity to coronavirus. These politicians, Rep. Doug Collins (R-GA) and Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), had been involved with somebody who examined constructive in the course of the 2020 Conservative Political Motion Convention. Trump additionally spoke on the occasion, however it’s unclear if he got here into direct contact with the one who examined constructive.
What’s extra, Trump has been on the campaign trail the place he’s been shaking arms and taking pictures with supporters. Well being professionals I spoke to earlier this week mentioned that Trump, together with the main Democratic presidential candidates, ought to cease doing that to reduce their threat of publicity to the virus.
“That’s actually exhausting as a result of that contact is key for interacting with potential voters,” Ashish Jha, director of the Harvard International Well being Institute, instructed me earlier this week.
On high of all of that, Trump is in his 70s — and, because the CDC has been saying for weeks now, older adults are “at increased threat of getting very sick” from Covid-19 than the final inhabitants is.
Put collectively, it is sensible that the White Home examined the president, given Trump’s threat is unquestionably increased than others’. The massive query now’s what the outcomes of that check are.