Three White House COVID health officials in self-quarantine

May 10, 2020 at 11:18 am sbracken

Three top health officials who are part of the White House’s COVID-19 Task Force are now in self quarantine because of being exposed to COVID-19.

This week the White House confirmed that at least two people close to President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence have COVID-19—a valet who serves the President’s food, and VP Pence’s spokeswoman, Katie Miller. Miller is married to Stephen Miller, a senior advisor to Pres. Trump. Ms. Miller was tested on Thursday, and tested negative, and tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday.

Dr. Stephen Hahn, head of the Food and Drug Administrations (FDA) and Dr. Robert Redfield, head of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) will both stay at home in self-quarantine for two weeks. Both are scheduled to testify before the U.S. Senate Health Committee on Tuesday, May 12, and will do so by video.

Dr. Anthony Fauci apparently had a more fleeting contact with somebody in the White House who has COVID-19 and is doing a “modified” self quarantine. He initially planned to testify before the Senate in person, wearing a mask, but Sen. Lamar Alexander, Chair of the Senate Health Committee, says Dr. Fauci will also testify by video.

It’s been widely reported that few people inside the White House wear cloth mask coverings, despite the first floor work area, including the press corps and press briefing room, are in fairly tight quarters. President Trump has said in press briefings that he does not plan to wear a mask.

Dr. Anthony Fauci