A second person who visited Mar-a-Lago last weekend has tested positive for the coronavirus as President Trump declared a national emergency over the pandemic on Friday and announced that he would get tested.
Trump has now been near two people within two days who have tested positive for the virus sparking further concerns that he may have been exposed.
Public life in the United States came to a halt on Friday as cases rose over 2,000 and the death toll hit 43 but Trump and the first family continue to resist going into self-isolation.
The first case the President came into contact with was a Brazilian official who Trump dined with and who he was photographed with on Saturday at Mar-a-Lago.
The second individual is believed to have attended a dinner at Mar-a-Lago hosted by Trump Victory on Sunday. The president delivered remarks at the event.
Donald Trump announced a state of national emergency in the Rose Garden at a hastily organized press conference Friday but continued to ignore public health experts advice and touched his mic 31 times during the conference, shaking hands and patting backs
President Donald Trump shaking hands with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro during a dinner at Mar-a-Lago on Saturday night; Bolsonaro’s condition is claimed to be negative on a second test, after it was positive on a first one
The news was revealed through an email from Republican party officials sent to other guests present at the president’s private estate last weekend.
‘If you or any of your loved ones is ill or develops a fever, shortness of breath, or other respiratory symptoms, please contact your medical provider,’ the email read.
The second diagnosis involved a guest of a donor who was not in contact with Trump, according to the Washington Post.
I’M NOT TAKING PRECAUTIONS AFTER BOLSONARO DINNER SAYS TRUMP
The president said he wasn’t taking precautions after Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro, who he had dinner with Saturday night at Mar-a-Lago, was tested for the disease.
Bolsonaro’s first test was positive but a second test came back negative.
Bolsonaro’s press aide also tested positive and he posed with Trump.
President Donald Trump shaking hands with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro during a dinner at Mar-a-Lago on Saturday night; Bolsonaro’s condition is claimed to be negative on a second test, after it was positive on a first one
The president is a clinically-obese 73-year-old.
‘No. We have no symptoms whatsoever,’ he said. ‘And we had a great meeting with the president of Brazil.
‘Bolsonaro, great guy. Very tremendous,’ he said.
‘He’s doing a fantastic job for Brazil. And, as you know, he tested negative – meaning nothing wrong – this morning and we got that word, too. Because we did have dinner with him.
‘We were sitting next to each other for a long period of time.’
It is not known whether the individual has developed COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus.
Trump said in a press conference Friday that he would get tested but not because he stood beside a Brazilian Mar-a-Lago guest on Saturday who tested positive but ‘because I think I will do it anyway’.
The president continued to ignore public health experts advice throughout the conference and shook hand, patted backs and touched his microphone 31 times.
News of the possibility of an encounter with a second coronavirus case as Mar-a-Lago has since been announced.
The president announced the press conference Friday after reports out of Brazil said the President Jair Bolsonaro tested positive for coronavirus.
One of the major newspapers in Rio de Janeiro, Journal O Dia, reported the news of Bolsonaro’s positive test.
Bolsonaro, 64, was checked for the disease after his aide Fabio Wajngarten tested positive for it.
But a second test that came back on Friday showed the president tested negative, according to a statement on Bolsonaro’s official Facebook page, which is adding to the questions and confusion.
‘The Armed Forces Hospital and (diagnostic laboratory) Sabin have returned a negative test result for COVID-19 for the President of the Republic Jair Bolsonaro,’ the posting said.
It was accompanied by a photo of Bolsonaro flashing an obscene arm gesture at the press.
On Thursday, Trump brushed aside concerns about his encounter with the Brazilians – just one in a series of brushes the president has had with the highly-contagious disease.
Both Bolsonaro and Wajngarten, his press secretary, were at Mar-a-Lago on Saturday night. Wajngarten had his photo take with President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence.
From left: Vice President Mike Pence, President Donald Trump, and Fabio Wajngarten, the communications secretary for Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. The three men posed for a photo on Saturday at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida
President Jair Bolsonaro, right, along with his Press Secretary, Fabio Wajngarten (second from left, partially obscured), during a meeting with US President Donald Trump at the Mar-a-Lago residence last weekend. The meeting sparked fears Trump encountered the coronavirus
Trump and the first family have resisted going into self-quarantine despite other lawmakers who came into contact with those testing positive for the disease going into voluntary isolation.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends testing if you ‘have been in close contact with a person known to have’ the virus. The agency defines close contact as ‘being within approximately 6 feet (2 meters) of a COVID-19 case for a prolonged period of time.’ Also, according to CDC guidelines, the president would be considered ‘medium’ risk for exposure.
Other world leaders are self-quarantining. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is in a voluntary 14-day quarantine after his wife, Sophie, tested positive for the disease.
Several members of the first family were at the Winter White House Saturday night where there was a birthday party for Kimberly Guilfoyle, the girlfriend of Donald Trump Jr., in addition to the working dinner for the Brazilian delegation.
One of those was Ivanka Trump, who, it was revealed late Thursday, had another brush with the disease.
She and Attorney General Bill Barr posed for a photograph with Australian Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton on March 5 – days before he tested positive for coronavirus.
Ivanka Trump stayed home on Friday but is showing no symptoms, does not need to self-quarantine and stayed home out of an abundance of caution, the White House said.
‘The White House is aware that Mr. Dutton tested positive for COVID-19. He was asymptomatic during the interaction. Exposures from the case were assessed and the White House Medical Unit confirmed, in accordance with CDC guidance, that Ivanka is exhibiting no symptoms and does not need to self-quarantine. She worked from home today out of an abundance of caution until guidance was given,’ White House Deputy press secretary Judd Deere said in a statement.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert at the National Institutes of Health, said he would ‘likely’ have been tested after coming if he had come into contact with Bolsonaro’s aide who tested positive for the coronavirus.
When asked hypothetically if he would get a test, he told ABC’s ‘Good Morning America’: ‘Likely I would, but I’m not sure.’
‘It depends on the circumstances,’ he added.