What does still shock is the recklessness with which Trump treated the health and lives of those closest to him. Despite being potentially exposed to a virus he described in February as “deadly stuff,” the president apparently took no measures to protect his political advisers, aides, and donors, and largely left them in the dark once he had tested positive.
Chris Christie, the former governor of New Jersey, helped prepare Trump in the days leading up to Tuesday night’s debate. He later said that no one at the sessions was wearing a mask. He reportedly learned of Trump’s COVID-19 diagnosis only from news reports, and was not informed by the White House. Christie has now tested positive and been admitted to a hospital. Trump’s campaign manager, Bill Stepien, has also tested positive, and reportedly has flu-like symptoms. It’s unclear when Trump last got a coronavirus test, but the debate moderator, Chris Wallace, said he arrived too late to get one before Tuesday’s debate, and was allowed in on the “honor system,” a perilous choice for this president.
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At a press conference yesterday morning, the president’s team said that the White House medical unit and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were conducting contact tracing on those around the president, but The Washington Post reported that “there was little evidence on Saturday that the White House or the campaign had reached out to these potentially exposed people, or even circulated guidance to the rattled staffers within the White House complex.” It now appears that the CDC is not actually involved in tracing. As of today, senior White House staffers were still not wearing masks, which would help prevent them from further spreading the virus if infected.
