‘SCARY TO GO TO WORK’

‘No Plans’ to Keep Trump and Pence Apart Despite White House COVID-19 Outbreak

Officials were said to be “racing to contain an outbreak of COVID-19 inside the White House” that was already spreading “rapidly” through its warren of cramped offices.

Two senior administration officials have told The New York Times that there are no plans to keep President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence apart “because of a concern that they both could be incapacitated by COVID-19.” The Times reported officials were “racing to contain an outbreak of COVID-19 inside the White House” that was already spreading “rapidly” through its warren of cramped offices. Pence spokeswoman Katie Miller and one of Trump’s personal valets have already tested positive.

The Times reported that Trump adviser Stephen Miller, Katie Miller’s husband, was not expected to come into the White House “for the foreseeable future.” Trump himself refuses to wear a mask when meeting with groups of people, rejecting official CDC guidance. “It is scary to go to work,” Kevin Hassett, a top economic adviser to the president—who wears a mask—told CBS’ Face the Nation. “I think that I’d be a lot safer if I was sitting at home than I would be going to the West Wing.”