Donald Trump is defying health measures aimed at containing the outbreak of novel coronavirus. The US president doesn’t abide by quarantine and keeps shaking hands in official ceremonies even as three people who were with him at the Mar-a-Lago Club last weekend have now tested positive for the deadly virus.
On Friday, he said that he has not yet been tested for the novel coronavirus. In a news conference on efforts to combat the coronavirus, Trump continued to shake hands with other speakers, many of whom are members of the White House Task Force charged with trying to stem the disease. Trump and many of the speakers took part in backslapping and adjusting the shared microphone, the Washington Post reported.
“Trump seemed to defy two basic practices that the rest of his government has been urging Americans to follow to prevent the spread of the virus. People who were exposed to an infected person are urged to quarantine themselves and seek testing. And everyone — exposed or not — should stop shaking hands,” the daily said.
3 Members of Brazilian Delegation Test Positive for Coronavirus
On Friday, the Brazilian Embassy in Washington said that its ambassador, Nestor Forster — who sat at Trump’s table during a dinner Saturday night at Mar-a-Lago — had tested positive for the coronavirus. Forster is the second Brazilian official who visited Mar-a-Lago that night and then was diagnosed with the fast-spreading virus: Fabio Wajngarten, the communications secretary for Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, tested positive on Wednesday. Wajngarten had posed for a photo with Trump; Forster, the newly diagnosed ambassador, seems to have been in even more prolonged close contact with Trump.
On Friday, Republican officials also said a guest of a donor who attended a Sunday luncheon at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club had later tested positive for the virus.
Trump Physician Memo
Late Friday, the White House issued a memo from Trump’s White House physician, Navy Cmdr. Sean P. Conley, that said the president does not need to be either tested or quarantined.
“The president’s exposure to the first individual was extremely limited (photograph, handshake), and though he spent more time in closer proximity to the second case, all interactions occurred before any symptom onset,” the memo read.
Numerous other US government officials have repeatedly warned Americans that the virus can be transmitted before patients have symptoms. Even limited contact, such as standing next to an infected person as Trump and Vice President Pence did in Florida, can lead to infection.
Trump’s words and behavior seemed to signal that he still may be underestimating the diseases’s threat to the country — and even to his own health, the Washington Post said.
Source: Washington Post (edited by Al-Manar English Website)
