President Donald Trump has famously downplayed the seriousness of the coronavirus outbreak, at first by calling it a "new hoax" and today by saying it's something that will "flow through." But under persistent questioning at a White House Rose Garden news briefing, he finally came out and said he was likely to get tested for the virus.
First, a little background: Trump met with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro last week at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida – and afterward, Bolsonaro's communications director posted an Instagram picture of himself standing next to Trump as they were showing off "Make Brazil Great Again" caps. (Vice President Mike Pence is also in the picture.)
Days later, it turned out that the communications director – named Fabio Wajngarten – tested positive for the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.
Bolsonaro was tested for coronavirus as well, and after some initial confusion, the Brazilian president reported on Twitter today that the test came out negative.
But what about Trump? Public health officials generally say that people who know they've been exposed to coronavirus should be monitored.
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Trump has been asked about this more than once in the past few days, and he's usually said his doctors have told him not to worry. But at today's news briefing, CBS News White House correspondent Weijia Jiang finally wrung a commitment out of the president. Here's the transcript:
Jiang: "The person you were standing next to, whether you know who he is or not, tested positive for coronavirus. Dr. Fauci [director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases] said this morning, if you stand next to somebody who tested positive, you should self-isolate and get a test. You say your White House doctor is telling you something different. Who should Americans listen to?"
Trump: "I think they have to listen to their doctors, and I think they shouldn't be jumping to get the test unless it's necessary. But I think they have to listen to their doctors. I haven't seen the picture. Somebody said there's a picture with somebody taking a picture with me, but I haven't seen it."
Jiang: "Doctors have said you might have it even if you don't have symptoms. Are you being selfish by not getting tested?"
Trump: "Well, I didn't say I wasn't going to be tested."
Jiang: "Are you going to be?"
Trump: "Most likely, yeah. Not for that reason, but because I think I will do it anyway."
Jiang: "Will you let us know…"
Trump: "Pretty soon. We're working on that. We're working out a schedule."
Then it was time for the next question. We may not know how the test turns out until Trump tweets about it. But in the meantime, Trump was showing no reticence about shaking hands with the VIPs assembled in the Rose Garden.
One of the executives, LHC Group's Bruce Greenstein, didn't take Trump's proffered hand but gave him an epidemiologically correct elbow bump instead.
"OK, I like that," Trump said. "That's good."
EVP of home health care services company Bruce Greenstein offers Pres. Trump an elbow bump after speaking at WH Rose Garden press conference, during which @POTUS declared a national emergency in response to coronavirus outbreak https://t.co/FUR5cMnxiL pic.twitter.com/kdjyTl56cc
— CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) March 13, 2020
via https://ift.tt/33ltm23
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