President Donald Trump has publicly reported that he imposed on COVID-19 a rite in honor of fallen soldiers. Chances are, he exposed the virus to army families.
Epidemiologists familiar with USA TODAY’s efforts to insinuate contacts with White House officials say Trump probably at the beginning of COVID-19 days before organizing a series of pre-Gold Star Family Ceremony occasions on Sunday, September 27.
Journalists reviewed photos, videos, social media, and schedules to identify and hint at the whereabouts of White House officials, assistants, and others in their orbit who recently contracted the new coronavirus.
Apart from the president and first lady, so far, the other members of the golden star occasion known to have tested positive are Coast Guard Admiral Charles Ray and press officer Kayleigh McEnany.
By contrast, at least a dozen people who witnessed the announcement of the president’s Supreme Court candidate the day before, saturday, tested positive.
“There are several other people who got sick, and the only thing they had was not unusual that they attended Saturday’s event,” said Jorge Salinas, a hospital epidemiologist and clinical assistant professor of infectious diseases at the University of Iowa. “It’s the smoking gun. “.
It was in an interview Thursday with Fox Business in which Trump hinted that the virus had struck at the annual veterans event, held at the White House, according to those present, some 25 families were concerned and had to pass a rapid COVID. 19 check before entering.
Based on how COVID-19 affects and how long it takes to spread symptoms, infectious disease specialists familiar with the USA TODAY reports say Trump is more likely to have spread the virus before.
They said they may simply not identify the “patient zero” of the White House epidemic without more physically powerful government tracking and molecular typification to identify the corresponding virus samples. The administration’s refusal to reveal Trump’s negative check date further complicates things.
Monitoring the COVID-19 epidemic in the White House:
Finding contacts and viewing others exposed to COVID-19 through the Trump epidemic
White House officials said the administration followed the rules of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for touch tracking, which included a 48-hour reversal after a positive check involving any White House staff. For those who have no official connection to the White House, it is up to their own doctor to verify and do the research.
The search for the point of contact is to stop the spread by encouraging others exposed to the virus to quarantine. Currently, some epidemiologists say that the window of opportunity for this has already been closed.
After months of minimizing the risks of the disease, Trump announced on October 2 that he had the new coronavirus. Since then, more than 33 Americans connected to the White House have tested positive, adding the first lady, senior adviser Hope Hicks and McEnany.
USA TODAY discovered that some of these Americans had come into dangerously close contact with at least 120 others in the days surrounding the Supreme Court. Many then dispersed across the country and continued to talk about their business, travel, attend election rallies and fundraising events, go to the gym and lead devoted sermons.
In the interview with Fox Business, Trump said he hit the virus because he had had such close contact with veterans’ families.
“I can’t go back and say, “Give me space. I need space. ” Give me 12 feet. Stay 12 feet away when you talk,” Trump said. The members of the army’s family circle had approached my face,” he added. “They need to kiss me and kiss me. And they do. And, frankly, I’m not telling you to back off. I’m not doing it. “
An inflamed user with COVID-19 can take up to 14 days to fully expand symptoms, but in a week, almost part of it begins to feel unhealthy, and on day 10, it is 90%. can begin to propagate COVID two days before being symptomatic, the critical 48 hours the White House is focusing on.
But fitness experts point out that it’s hard to accurately estimate when a patient becomes contagious because the first symptoms can be very subtle.
“With the president’s program and habit, it will be very difficult to accurately identify when he became ill,” said Amesh Adalja, a physician and lead researcher at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, referring to the rite of veterans and SCOTUS. party. “If you’re going to have occasions like this, you’ll get cases
The rite of veterans took a position just one day after the occasion, now the super standard of the epidemic, when a lot of conservative and evangelical officials from across the country piled up on the rose lawn for Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination to the Supreme Court.
Many wearing mask or social distance; some were photographed shake hands, hugging and kissing, and were added in indoor receptions after the outdoor ceremony.
Public fitness officials tasked with provoking the spread of COVID-19 say that full tracking of everyone who attended the SCOTUS event is the only way to know for sure where the White House epidemic originated and how far it has traveled.
Based only on the chronology of his positive test, epidemiologists say it is in fact imaginable that Trump may have hit the virus at the Gold Star Families event, but they said other points almost completely exclude this possibility.
Ray, the admiral who proved he had COVID-19 on October 5, and McEnany were the only other people beyond the triumphs that attended the Gold Star event and got the virus.
Meanwhile, of those they provided at Barrett’s nomination ceremony, at least 12 have coronaviruses. This includes Barrett’s supporters, such as Notre Dame President Reverend John Jenkins, who has no official connection to the White House and did not attend the Gold Star event.
Helping the US But it’s not the first time TODAY: We want to identify everyone on the occasion of SCOTUS in the White House Rose Garden.
Experts also point to the duration and nature of the two occasions as herbal propagators of an epidemic that might have given the impression even earlier.
By mid-September, a white house member had already tested positive for COVID-19. Crede Bailey, director of the White House security office, has been hospitalized with coronavirus symptoms since last month, Bloomberg News reported.
Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel, who also tested positive, attended a personal fundraiser with Trump at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D. C. on September 25 that same night, Trump with Hicks at a rally in Virginia.
An RNC spokesman said that after his meeting with Trump, McDaniel returned home to Michigan and stayed there. Four days later, she tested ArrayHicks the next day, Trump the next day.
The president’s comments on the occasion of the Golden Star provoked the wrath of Democrats in Congress and some supporters of the army, who cited their disrespect for the troops and their lacklus reaction to the fatal pandemic. But it’s not the first time TODAY they felt in the rite and were not bothered by the president’s comments.
White House spokeswoman Alyssa Farah tried to retract Trump’s comments about the Golden Star ceremony, telling reporters, “We don’t blame anyone who’s there, and we take great care of this event, so based on the search for contacts and the knowledge we have. “, we do not believe that they derive from this event. “
He stated that the president’s point was that, “at the time when I was potentially exposed, there were a number of other options I had gone to and others I had interacted with and from whom this might come.
The VoteVets group, which criticized Trump, tweeted this week: “Like everything else, Donald Trump’s White House hasn’t followed CDC rules with this event, and it’s still not fair to families, nor is it doing genuine contact searches at the CDC. to calm down.
Like everything else, the Donald Trump White House has not followed CDC rules with this event, and is still not fair to families, nor does it seek contacts through the CDC to reassure itself. (1/2) https: // t. co / 6vkTmXU1GX
Several Democrats in Congress have made statements on social media and criticized Trump for his comments – a not easy apology.
“It turns out President Trump thinks it’s general to blame him and blame others for his own failures,” U. S. Senator Jack Reed (Democrat for Rhode Island), a senior member of the Armed Services Committee, said in a statement. . ” Instead of criticizing the families of the dead for infecting him, President Trump is transparent about his own actions, who he met and when, and publishes detailed medical information, adds a schedule and conducts genuine touch searches to help prevent spread. “
Others also convicted Trump of his comments and for allowing the White House epidemic to metastasize.
“For Donald Trump to continue insulting Gold Star families and blaming them for spreading a fatal pandemic in which he is spreading is more than embarrassing,” said U. S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-Illinois), retired lieutenant of the National Army. Guard Colonel.
Several other people who attended the veterans’ rite told USA TODAY that they were comfortable with the fitness precautions taken. After being evaluated upon arrival, families reported that they were remote until they gained the effects of their tests. They also continued to use a small mask organization. visits to the White House.
Families reported having had the opportunity to wear a mask for the rest of the occasion and may simply mingle with other visitors or take them to a personal room.
Britt Harris, whose army CPS husband Christopher Harris died in 2017 in Afghanistan, said she and her mother-in-law chose to spend time in a personal room because they were there with Harris’ 2-year-old daughter.
They joined other families and officials later in the evening for a rite that included speeches through the president and father of gold star Steven G. Xiarhos, as well as ignition candles for the 25 honest service members. Harris said she wasn’t expecting her husband’s. Called to be one of the two highlights in the president’s speech.
“It was a big challenge for our family,” he says. It was special to talk to him about Chris. “
He claimed his mother-in-law tested negative for COVID-19 after the event. Harris didn’t get tested, but he was quarantined with his daughter.
Texas resident Ruth Holler, whose son Casts Captain Luke Holler died in 2006 in Iraq, said her delight in “comforting” and “the adventure of a lifetime. “Holler and one of his daughters told USA TODAY that the seven circles of the relatives who attended the occasion had not been examined, but none had symptoms.
Hank Cramer, whose father, Captain Harry G. Cramer, was killed in Vietnam in 1957, also said he felt safe that night. Cramer said the president had spent several minutes asking questions about his father’s service. He and other participants said they were status, two feet from the president and didn’t shake hands.
“I think he’s probably realistically communicating that he may have hit the virus at any public assembly he’s been attending in the last few weeks,” Cramer said. “And I appreciate the fact that he did not hesitate in us. the night with us and you are in a position to contact us.
Cramer, who lives in Washington state, said he learned that the president had COVID-19 through the news. That day, Cramer called a clinic in his small town and asked if he and his wife could just get tested. they had some symptoms and, when he replied no, he explained that the workplace only tested people in poor health.
“I said, ‘Well, I’m asking to be tested because last Sunday I was at the White House with the president of the United States and he has COVID’ and there was silence at the end of the phone,” Cramer said. “They said, ‘In that case, come down. ‘
He said the evidence from him and his wife was negative.
A review through USA TODAY of the schedules and schedules of many officials has shown that the virus had infiltrated the White House long before the president hinted at it in his interview with Fox Business.
Trump showed at a briefing with reporters at the White House on September 16 that at least one case had arisen within the administration. At the time, the White House did not check who he was talking about and it is unclear whether he fully refers to Crede. or any other staff member.
“He’s a user. It’s, I mean, not too much, it’s not a user I’m related to,” Trump said at the time.
After the outreach, Trump and his administration continued to break public fitness rules by holding large public rallies, regardless of face politics and social distance. In the last two weeks of September, the president participated in at least 11 rallies and fundraising events.
The next day, Trump spoke unmaskedly at the White House convention on American history, while First Lady Melania Trump visited a chimney in Manchester, New Hampshire, to discuss drug addiction.
President Trump then boarded planes for occasions in Minnesota, North Carolina, Ohio, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.
U. S. President and Attorney General William Barr met with state attorneys general to try to protect consumers from social media abuse, and organized a Latin roundtable for Trump at Trump National Doral Miami on September 25 in front of more than 150 people, many without masks. he went on a black economic empowerment occasion near Atlanta on September 25, where he met NFL legend Herschel Walker and mingled with other fans.
Trump’s September 18 rally in Minnesota only related to nine cases of COVID-19, adding two hospitalizations, according to MPR News.
Even after the epidemic multiplied and Trump himself tested positive, White House members continued to elude fundamental recommendations on such events, depending on a strategy to verify who they want to contact the president.
They stopped at summits, election rallies and other political fundraising activities, where they contacted thousands of people. Senator Ron Johnson (Republican for Wisconsin), a vocal critic of the mask warranties, attended a fundraiser after being screened for the virus. however, before the effects returned positive.
McEnany continued to interact with media members without a mask before testing positive, and at least six leaders on the occasion Rose Garden SCOTUS delivered sermons on the user the following Sunday, after Trump announced he had coronavirus.
Kyle Bagentose and Nicholas Wu contributed to this story