Trump dismisses concern over virus spreading in White House
by Jerome Cartillier
US President Donald Trump on Monday dismissed concerns over the possible spread of coronavirus in the White House but said he may limit contact with Vice President Mike Pence.
Trump, speaking to masked reporters in the White House Rose Garden, suggested that Pence was in quarantine after his press secretary tested positive, though he did not say it outright.
Katie Miller, the spokeswoman for Pence, who heads the White House’s coronavirus task force, tested positive for coronavirus last week along with a personal valet to Trump.
Three members of the task force have since gone into quarantine — infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci, Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Stephen Hahn, head of the Food and Drug Administration.
A Pence spokesman denied over the weekend that the vice president was also in quarantine but Trump suggested he was when asked on Monday whether he had considered limiting his contact with him.
“I would say that he and I will be talking about that,” Trump said at an occasionally testy press conference.
“During this quarantine period, we’ll probably talk,” Trump said. “I have not seen him since then.”
“We can talk on the phone,” he said of Pence. “He tested negative, so we have to understand that, but he comes into contact with a lot of people.” (AFP)
