Personal valet for Trump tests positive for coronavirus, White House confirms
A personal valet to President Donald Trump has tested positive for the coronavirus, according to multiple reports.
The valet is a member of the U.S. Navy who is assigned to the White House and works close to the president and his family, according to CNN, which first reported the news.
“We were recently notified by the White House Medical Unit that a member of the United States Military, who works on the White House campus, has tested positive for Coronavirus,” deputy White House press secretary Hogan Gidley confirmed in a statement.
“The President and the Vice President have since tested negative for the virus and they remain in great health,” he said.
On Thursday, the president said, “I’ve had very little contact with this person,” according to a pool report. He told reporters coronavirus testing in the White House will change from weekly to daily.
“POTUS said he himself was tested yesterday and today and was negative,” according to the pool report.
Few members of the Trump administration wear masks in the West Wing, although two administration officials told McClatchy that guidance to staff is under constant evaluation. All individuals who come into close contact with the president and vice president, or who travel with either, are tested.
The president just returned from a trip to Phoenix, Arizona, where he toured a factory making N95 protective masks under a contract with the Department of Defense.
Public health experts say they don’t yet know how long it takes for someone to contract the virus and then become infectious to people around them, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The incubation period, meaning the time between when someone contracts the coronavirus and begins to show symptoms, is anywhere from 2 to 14 days, according to the CDC.
There is also a number of studies that show people can spread the virus without ever showing symptoms.
This story was originally published May 7, 2020 at 11:27 AM with the headline "Personal valet for Trump tests positive for coronavirus, White House confirms."
