Trump campaign tells staff with COVID exposure to quarantine, cancels events
Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien on Friday advised staff who were exposed to anyone who tested positive for the coronavirus to self-quarantine immediately.
Anyone else without symptoms does not need to do so at this time, he wrote in an all-staff email that McClatchy obtained.
“In consultation with the White House Medical Unit and our own medical consultants, any campaign staff member who has had exposure to someone testing positive should immediately begin self-quarantine,” Stepien said.
President Donald Trump announced early Friday morning in a tweet that he and first lady Melania Trump had tested positive for Covid-19. One of the president’s senior White House aides, Hope Hicks, had tested positive prior to the president’s announcement.
Trump had planned to hold a rally in Sanford, Fla., on Friday evening but the event was removed from his public schedule after he shared his test results. He had also been scheduled to have campaign events in Wisconsin and Arizona in the the coming days.
Stepien in the email to campaign staff said that “some public events will be taken down” but did not specify which events. He said that the campaign office would remain open.
“While some public events will be taken down, the campaign office remains open and our nation-wide team will continue with our efforts to re-elect President Trump,” he wrote.
Campaign aides were explicitly told in the email to “wear a mask” and take other coronavirus prevention measures.
“While we do not believe anyone else without symptoms needs to self-quarantine at this time, it is on all of us to continue to exercise the smart judgment and practices the campaign has long encouraged: wear a mask, wash your hands, socially distance, check-in via the LiveSafe app on a daily basis and work from home if you’re not feeling well,” Stepien said.
Trump rarely wears a mask in public and has repeatedly mocked Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden for rigorously wearing face coverings.
“I don’t wear masks like him. Every time you see him, he’s got a mask. He could be speaking 200 feet away,” Trump said of Biden at the first presidential debate this week, “and he shows up with the biggest mask I’ve ever seen.”
The president said Tuesday evening he thinks “masks are okay,” they are unnecessary on occasions when “everybody’s had a test and you’ve had social distancing” like at the debate.
“I wear masks when needed,” he said. “When needed, I wear masks.”
This story was originally published October 2, 2020 at 10:30 AM with the headline "Trump campaign tells staff with COVID exposure to quarantine, cancels events."
