President Donald Trump and other White House members inflamed with COVID-19 have brought the virus across the country in a matter of days, potentially exposing hundreds, if not thousands, of others as they go through their businesses, a USA TODAY investigation revealed. .
From a devoted outdoor summit in Atlanta to an election rally at a Pennsylvania airport and a personal fundraiser in Minnesota, Trump, his aides and political allies attended occasions with thousands of people, unmasked and with little regard for social distance.
Trump, first child Melania Trump, senior adviser Hope Hicks and press secretary Kayleigh McEnany are among more than 20 who tested positive for COVID-19 after a White House-related outbreak. media publications and reviewed attendance records to identify those who contacted them.
At least 6,000 other people attended meetings, rallies and other meetings with them in the week following the Supreme Court nomination rite on September 26 at the White House Rose Garden, a possible “super-transmission” event.
Help USA TODAY with its search for contacts from the COVID-19 epidemic in Washington
More than 120 more people were delivered dangerously close to Trump and others this week, the USA TODAY investigation revealed. They traveled, shaken hands, or mingeded in tight, enclosed spaces that they then tested positive for COVID-19. have had physical contact or spent long periods of time talking in tight spaces with Trump and his aides.
Epidemiologists and public fitness experts said USA TODAY research shows that the White House outbreak has put more people in more situations at risk than was known in the past, illustrating the speed and degree to which a super-spray occasion can bring COVID-19.
“I don’t think we know yet the extent of this epidemic
The White House has rejected an offer from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to track and inform those who may have been linked to the outbreak.
No government efforts are being made to know how many other people outdoors, the official White House staff have been exposed to the virus or to warn them.
President Trump Has COVID-19: A Timeline Of His Travels Leading To A Coronavirus Test
Most experts identify the most likely spread in ceremonies surrounding Amy Coney Barrett’s appointment to the Rose Garden of the Supreme Court.
Trump and his affiliates have been very concerned about leaders, Congressional colleagues, conservative justice lawyers, the university faculty of Notre Dame, representatives of anti-abortion teams and others who have traveled across the country for the event.
More than two hundred of them piled up in rose garden seats for the president to appoint Barrett. Some attended smaller personal meetings within the White House to meet personally with Barrett and his family. Most did not wear masks, adding the ones that were tested. Positive.
Many of them reached out, hugged others and put shoulder to shoulder, then boarded planes and helicopters and dispersed across the country.
Participants reported that they had previously been and had to wait for the negative effects before they were allowed to perform. USA TODAY has played more than 70 guests. None said they had contacted the CDC about touch search.
At least six leaders from Texas to Florida who were on the rose garden occasion delivered sermons on the user the following Sunday, after Trump announced he had a coronavirus.
Members of Congress who tested and were provided for the festivities went to election rallies and government meetings. Senator Mike Lee, Republican for Utah, lives in the same D. C. construction as Reprovideative Health Carbajal, a Democrat for California, who said he did the test after interacting with Lee.
The president and the first girl organized a circle of Gold Star relatives in the White House attended by the heads of the armed branches, adding Admiral Charles Ray, who has since tested positive.
The president attended other events and added a fundraiser at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, NJ, the day before his test.
Health experts have said the precise extent of propagation can be difficult to measure, as models show the likelihood that someone will use COVID-19 on an occasion that exceeds 55% of the Supreme Court announcement. without a competitive search for contacts.
An examination of the cruise ship sent Diamond Princess summarized through the CDC found that each inflamed user transmitted to an average of 15 other people before the outbreak was identified. After the adoption of isolation and quarantine measures, the transmission rate fell to 1. 8.
A funeral last February in Albany, Georgia, attended by about 200 others, a number higher than the White House, triggered an epidemic that ignited more than 1,000 people and killed 67 in six weeks, according to an investigation into USA TODAY’s public case data. Health protection protocols were not systematically followed so early in the pandemic.
White House undersecretary of the press Brian Morgenstern said management followed CDC rules for touch search, which included a 48-hour review from the time there was positive control of all White House staff. , it’s up to his own circle of medical relatives to do the research, he said.
“The White House has launched a robust contract tracking program, run through the White House Medical Unit, at the suggestion of the CDC,” Morgenstern said.
The calculation for getting COVID-19 is congestion, proximity, and time spent with others. Not dressing in a mask greatly increases this exposure.
“It’s disconcerting from a fundamental perspective on public aptitude,” said Jay Wolfson, senior associate dean at the University of South Florida’s Morsani School of Medicine. “The danger here is (the administration) of playing with the lives of others for not being transparent and unclear.
On the same day Trump appointed Barrett to the Supreme Court, about 50,000 were amassed in the nation’s capital for the 2020 prayer march led by Franklin Graham and assisted by Vice President Mike Pence.
Graham and other leaders met with Barrett at a personal reception at the White House, and many attended the Rose Garden ceremony.
Of the 21 Rose Garden participants leading religious organizations, 11 showed they had tested negative, two tested positive for COVID-19 and 8 said otherwise.
At least six of them returned home and gave sermons on the user the following Sunday, according to a review through USA TODAY about posting videos of the services.
SecondLady and I were in fact revered for registering in @Franklin_Graham and thousands of believers for the PrayerMarch2020 in Washington DC today. Thank you for your prayers, America, ???????pic. twitter. com/p1l6J8Cp69
California pastor and Christian evangelist Greg Laurie among those who attended the Rose Garden event and became ill.
“Last Friday I tested positive for COVID-19,” Laurie wrote on a tweet Monday. “I’ve been quarantined ever since. My wife Cathe is also quarantined with me. I am pleased to report that all members of my family circle tested negative for COVID. »
Notre Dame President John Jenkins, who was at the Rose Garden event in Barrett, a Notre Dame alumni, tested positive.
At least 10 other people attended the Faith and Freedom Coalition’s three-day convention on majority politics in Georgia, which attracted many visitors and took positions inside.
Think of the key speaker.
Faith and Freedom Coalition founder Ralph Reed, who at the Rose Garden said he passed a COVID-19 check on September 30 at the request of the White House because he was about to greet Pence the same day. Its effects were negative.
Reed said he didn’t dress in a mask, but said he hadn’t entered 6 feet from anyone publicly known to have tested positive. It’s not quarantined.
“I have no symptoms and no explanation as to why I have the virus right now,” Reed said.
Tony Perkins, chairman of the Family Research Council, had COVID-19 in July and conducted antibody tests. Learn firsthand how temporarily the virus can spread, as it has made your circle of relatives in poor health despite efforts to isolate it. himself.
He said he was one of many non-masks at the Rose Garden event, but he doesn’t blame Trump or the management for those who got sick.
“He’s outside on a sunny day, ” said Perkins. ” By hiding from the virus, we’re just prolonging the inevitability of other people getting sick.
Pastor Jack Graham, who attended the Prayer March and the Rose Garden event, has been preaching a mask at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Texas since May.
A spokesman for Graham showed that he had been tested twice from the white house stopover and had tested negative on both occasions, although the precise dates of the tests were not revealed. He noted that “all his activities were in consultation with his non-public physician. “On Saturday, the day after Trump showed his positive test, Graham tweeted that his church had had “thousands of other people attending” services.
“INFECTION WAS NOT REPORTED,” he wrote. Don’t let any worries keep you away. “
Whether we pray from seats of political strength or in our own prayer rooms, Heavenly Father is listening to us. What a privilege to make a stop at the White House today with @Franklin_Graham and a joy to register thousands of believers from all over this wonderful country to pray for our country prayerMarch2020 pic. twitter. com/vS0AZC5BLl
In contrast to the evangelical participants, the Reverend Paul Scalia, son of Supreme Court Judge Antonin Scalia, admitted that his decision not to wear a mask contradicts the demands of the Catholic church where he preaches.
“My movements in the White House were moderated at the time given the supposed controls established,” he wrote in a blog post in his Virginia parish, distracted from gospel paintings.
Researchers at Georgia Tech University have developed a COVID-19 occasional threat assessment plan planning tool. Style shows that when another hundred people attend a time in Washington, there’s a 55% chance they’ll have COVID-19.
In a collection of 500 people, it rises to 98%.
Without a mask or social estating, the White House has “amplified” the threat, said Jorge Salinas, a hospital epidemiologist and clinical assistant professor of infectious diseases at the University of Iowa.
“What we are seeing with the White House epidemic is the herbal history of COVID and how it spreads when there are no established measures,” Salinas said. “That’s what we see in bars and restaurants, so it’s not unexpected. unexpected is the way this epidemic is handled, it is precisely how the pandemic is controlled in the United States, and it is simply to let it happen.
At least four members of Congress have done so since last week.
The senses. Lee and Thom Tillis, N. C. , announced that they had COVID-19 after attending the Rose Garden ceremony. Representative Carbajal and Senator Ron Johnson, R-Wis. , also announced the results.
By the time Tillis announced it, he had attended a Judiciary Committee assembly with at least 17 other senators and had entered 6 feet from Democratic challenger Cal Cunningham in a debate in Raleigh, North Carolina. North, Thursday.
Cunningham campaign representatives responded to USA TODAY’s requests for feedback. Cunningham tested negative for the virus last week, according to News.
A dozen senators were examined by coronavirus after the judicial assembly with Tillis, with negative effects on Tuesday afternoon. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Ben Sasse, R-Neb. , are quarantined as a precautionary measure.
Tillis’ representatives responded to requests for comment.
“I’m involved with anyone who could have been exposed, not just me,” said Senator Cory Booker, DN. J. , who sat in the Judiciary Committee assembly and said it came back negative on Monday. “We want much greater protocols for and I don’t think we’ll go back to the court assemblies until all the senators have been evaluated and have a normal testing protocol.
Video: The now U. S. Senator for Utah, Mike Lee, at the White House Rose Garden on Saturday, with his mask in his hand, hugging and kissing people. Pic. twitter. com/Md2l93bw25
Carbaja said Tuesday that he had tried after close contact with Lee.
“The two interacted in passing a few times last week,” Carbajal’s workplace told USA TODAY. “It is highly unlikely that you will locate a quick hour or a type of infection, however, you were asked to review after you were informed that Senator Lee had tested positive. “
Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie learned Saturday that he tested positive for COVID-19, a week after the Rose Garden occasion, and was hospitalized with “mild” viral symptoms. In the days before and after the test, at least 50 government officials were contacted. .
Others with COVID-19s come with Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel and Nick Luna, Assistant President and Chief Operating Officer of the Oval Office.
Christie and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani were in a small presidential debate preparation organization at the Sheila and Eric Samson Pavilion in Cleveland 3 days after the nomination ceremony.
On the same day as the ceremony, six members of the Pennsylvania Congress, as chairman of the state Republican Party, were potentially exposed at a Trump Crusade rally at Harrisburg International Airport.
Approximately 200 other people attended a roundtable and a fundraiser for the president on October 1 at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey. It tested positive for COVID-19 hours later, another 3 people reported no symptoms.
Participants paid up to $250,000 to participate. Some of those who attended and posted photos on social media have faced a backlash, and their friends have encouraged them to get tested for the virus.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy’s management is investigating the Bedminster event to determine whether he violated his executive orders by exceeding capacity limits and serving a buffet lunch. Murphy stated that “the president and staff behaved recklessly” in proceeding with the event after Hicks tested positive.
A day before the fundraiser in New Jersey, the president went to a $200,000 couple fundraiser at Martin and Anne Davis’ home on Lake Minnetonka in Minnesota and a rally at Minneapolis Airport. Hicks began to revel in the symptoms of this journey.
“From a distance, you can see that they have opted for an imperfect strategy, that whoever approaches the president would be tested,” Salinas said. “Tests can’t be the only strategy. “
Contribution: Tricia L. Nadolny, Kyle Bagentose, Marisa Kwiatkowski, Jayme Fraser and Nicholas Wu