The possibility that the president and his entourage have become traveling superspreaders is a nightmare scenario for officials in the four states he visited in the last week.
President Donald Trump’s coronavirus diagnosis set off a scramble to contact and trace thousands of people across at least half a dozen states, a public health crisis fueled by the White House’s downplaying simple pandemic containment tools.
The possibility that the president and his White House entourage were traveling superspreaders is a nightmare scenario for officials in Minnesota, Ohio, New Jersey and Pennsylvania — four states where Trump rallied, debated or fundraised in the past week.
The White House itself may have become a nexus of infection in the Washington, D.C., area and beyond, hosting events like last Saturday’s celebration of Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett. At many Trump events, masks were a rarity, social distancing minimal. Video of the Barrett event, for instance, shows people shaking hands, hugging and standing close together.
“They’re way behind the curve in trying to catch all the folks that the president has been around,” said Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association. “The fact that he’s been around so many people and that he doesn’t wear a mask, he could be a superspreader, we just don’t know yet.”
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Trump tweeted his diagnosis early Friday morning, setting off a mad dash to identify people who may have been exposed and to track down their contacts.
Minnesota health officials only learned of the president’s diagnosis from media reports, and as of Friday afternoon no one from the administration or campaign had reached out, according to state Director of Infectious Disease and Epidemiology Kris Ehresmann.
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The Trump campaign has not turned over a list of attendees for the rally or a private fundraiser he held in Minneapolis, making contact tracing by the state health department impossible.
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President Trump’s coronavirus diagnosis set off a scramble to contact and trace thousands of people across at least half a dozen states, a public health crisis fueled by the White House’s downplaying simple pandemic containment tools https://t.co/AFez3aoacC
— POLITICO (@politico) October 3, 2020
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