President Donald Trump has addressed potential concerns that he and his aids had potentially been exposed to coronavirus. On the weekend of March 7, Trump hosted Brazilian President Jai Bolsonaro at his resort in Florida, Mar-A-Lago. It was reported that Bolsonaro had tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by coronavirus. However, according to Brazilian outlet O Dia, it was later confirmed by Bolsonaro’s son that the test was negative.
However, one of Bolsonaro’s aids, Fabio Wajngarten, had tested positive for coronavirus. Despite the fact that Wanjngarten was among those who visited Mar-a-Lago on the weekend of March 7, Trump had said that he was “not concerned” about it. On Thursday, White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham released a statement addressing whether or not Trump or those in his cabinet will be tested.
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“The White House is aware of public reports that a member of the Brazilian delegation’s visit to Mar-a-Lago last weekend tested positive for COVID-19; confirmatory testing is pending,” Grisham’s statement read, via Business Insider. “Exposures from the case are being assessed, which will dictate the next steps. Both the President and Vice President had almost no interactions with the individual who tested positive and do not require being tested at this time.”
The president’s daughter and White House aid Ivanka Trump had previously posted a photo of the gathering earlier in March.
Enjoyable and productive dinner with @realDonaldTrump and the President of Brazil @jairbolsonaro 🇺🇸🇧🇷 pic.twitter.com/rHhVcyzS1J
— Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) March 8, 2020
On Friday afternoon, Trump also declared a national emergency over growing concerns about coronavirus, enacting the Stafford Act, which enables him to increase funding for the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Though the inclusion of some assorted CEOs from large corporations led to further criticisms over the administrations handling of the outbreak.
Ivanka Trump, incidentally, worked from home on Friday after she’d learned that prior to the Mar-a-Lago gathering, she’d met with Australian minister for home affairs Peter Dutton, who later tested positive for coronavirus. The White House medical staff told her that she did not need to self-quarantine, though she did so “out of an abundance of caution.”
Currently, there are roughly 137,400 confirmed coronavirus cases in the world, according to Johns Hopkins University research, with 1,700 reported cases in the U.S. For tips on how to help prevent the spread of coronavirus, check out the World Health Organization’s website here.
