The Coronavirus Gets Closer to Trump

Secret Service agents have tested positive
By Neal Colgrass,  Newser Staff
Posted May 9, 2020 11:00 AM CDT
Coronavirus Hits the Secret Service
Ivanka Trump listens during an event about the Paycheck Protection Program used to support small businesses during the coronavirus outbreak, in the East Room of the White House, April 28, 2020, in Washington.   (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

The US Secret Service is facing a new threat: the coronavirus. The agency had 11 active cases on Thursday, along with 23 agents who'd recovered from the virus and 60 others under self-isolation, per Homeland Security documents seen by Yahoo News. But the DHS wouldn't say more, and the Secret Service wasn't talking. Secret Service spokesperson Justine Whelan did say the agency was trying to protect worker safety: "The Secret Service continues to follow guidance issued by the CDC to ensure the health and welfare of our employees and those they come in contact with," she said. But with the virus afflicting White House employees, the administration isn't always following CDC directions.

Yahoo points out that even reporters who meet with President Trump aren't being tested or told to wear masks, and Kavita Patel, a former doctor in the Obama administration, sees problems anyway: "There's a ton of people that come in and out of there, and they touch things," she says of the White House. "So, unless you are literally testing every individual and then following up … even with wiping down those surfaces every night, it's not foolproof." CNN reports that Ivanka Trump's personal assistant, Katie Miller, has tested positive, but Miller's been working remotely and hasn't had contact with Ivanka for weeks. The White House declined to comment on whether her husband, top adviser Stephen Miller, was infected or under self-quarantine. (More coronavirus stories.)

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