U.S. News: Trump Delayed Revealing First Positive Test
Bender, Michael C; Ballhaus, Rebecca. Wall Street Journal, Eastern
edition; New York, N.Y. [New York, N.Y]05 Oct 2020: A.4.
WASHINGTON -- President Trump didn't disclose a positive result from a
rapid test for Covid-19 on Thursday while awaiting the findings from a
more thorough coronavirus screening, according to people familiar with
the matter.
Mr. Trump received a positive result on Thursday evening before making
an appearance on Fox News in which he didn't reveal those results.
Instead, he confirmed earlier reports that one of his top aides had
tested positive for coronavirus and mentioned the second test he had
taken that night for which he was awaiting results.
"I'll get my test back either tonight or tomorrow morning," Mr. Trump
said during the interview. At 1 a.m. on Friday, the president tweeted
that he indeed had tested positive.
Under White House protocols, the more reliable test that screens a
specimen from deeper in the nasal passage is administered only after a
rapid test shows a positive reading. Based on people familiar with the
matter, the president's tests followed that protocol.
As the virus spread among the people closest to him, Mr. Trump also
asked one adviser not to disclose results of their own positive test.
"Don't tell anyone," Mr. Trump said, according to a person familiar with
the conversation.
Mr. Trump and his top advisers also aimed to keep such a close hold on
the early positive results that his campaign manager, Bill Stepien,
didn't know that Hope Hicks, one of the president's closest White House
aides, had tested positive on Thursday morning until news reports later
that evening, according to a person familiar with the matter. The Trump
campaign said Friday evening that Mr. Stepien had tested positive.
The initial secrecy within Mr. Trump's inner circle has created a sense
of anxiety within the West Wing. Publicly, the White House has issued
evolving and contradictory statements about the president's health that
have some officials worried about their own credibility.
"I'm glued to Twitter and TV because I have no official communication
from anyone in the West Wing," an administration official said.
The White House didn't respond immediately to a request for comment.
The lack of clear communication about who was getting the virus has
extended to reports on the president's status as he undergoes treatment.
At a press briefing Saturday, the president, who has been hospitalized
at Walter Reed Medical Center since Friday, watched as the White House
physician, Dr. Sean Conley, told reporters that his symptoms were
improving. Minutes later, Mr. Trump grew alarmed when another person
familiar with the situation warned reporters that Mr. Trump's recent
condition had been concerning. An angry president quickly dialed an
adviser from his hospital room.
"Who the f--- said that?" Mr. Trump demanded, according to a person
familiar with the call. The Associated Press later identified the person
as White House chief of staff Mark Meadows.
The president's doctors said Sunday that his condition was improving and
that he could be discharged from the hospital as soon as Monday, but
also said he was taking a steroid typically recommended for serious cases.
The fast-moving revelations began Thursday evening when Mr. Trump
confirmed in a telephone interview with Fox News that one of his closest
aides, Hope Hicks, had tested positive that day, and said: "I just heard
about this." CBS News first reported that by that point, Mr. Trump had
received his own positive result on a rapid test.
But Ms. Hicks had learned about her own positive test result that
morning, and the information was kept to a tight circle of advisers,
according to people familiar with the matter. Ms. Hicks's positive test
results were first reported by Bloomberg News later that evening. The
White House offered no official statement on Ms. Hope's positive test.
Mr. Stepien and the rest of the Trump campaign first learned of Ms.
Hicks's positive test from Bloomberg News, and weren't consulted on
whether to proceed with a Thursday trip to New Jersey, a campaign
official said.
The White House has said the operations team deemed the trip safe. The
president had tested negative on a rapid test that morning, according to
a person familiar with the matter. Mr. Meadows has said the White House
learned of Ms. Hicks's results right as Marine One was leaving for New
Jersey, and said the administration pulled some advisers off the trip.
The president left the White House just after 1 p.m. that day.
The decision not to cancel the New Jersey trip drew swift criticism from
health experts. Lisa M. Lee, a public-health expert specializing in
infectious-disease epidemiology and public-health ethics at Virginia
Tech University, said "holding the [Bedminster, N.J.] event in spite of
knowing that one of the team was infected and had exposed others was a
recipe for spreading disease."
White House officials said their medical team is conducting contact
tracing for staff that have tested positive, but uncertainty has also
been infused into that process, people familiar with the matter said.
Contact tracing is a crucial step, public health experts have said, to
stem the spread of infectious disease.
That process is gaining importance since Mr. Trump and his senior
advisers spent most of last week following their normal schedule rarely
using other tools -- safe distance and masks -- to keep the virus at
bay. In some instances, protocols were followed. At the New Jersey
events, attendees had to test negative, complete a wellness
questionnaire and pass a temperature screening. Guests were kept 6 feet
from the president.
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