The recent announcement of the contagion of President Donald Trump and the first lady, Melania Trump, with coronavirus has shocked the public scene in the United States, in the middle of a pandemic that
has
already
caused the death of more than 207,000 Americans
in the middle of the election season and few days of November 3.
In addition, it happens in the middle of a campaign that increased the public activities of the current president who aspires to re-election.
Although it is not yet known when and how the presidential couple became infected, both
tested positive hours after one of the president's closest advisers, Hope Hicks, announced their infection.
Hicks was diagnosed Wednesday after attending the president's election rally in Minnesota.
In recent days, Trump has interacted with dozens of White House staff, donors and supporters.
[President Trump and the first lady are experiencing mild symptoms after catching the coronavirus]
The president
kicked off the week with an event Monday morning on the South Lawn of the White House where he inspected a truck made by Lordstown Motors.
Business Advisor Peter Navarro, Senator Rob Portman and Steve Burns, the CEO of Lordstown Motors, were present at that meeting.
In the afternoon, in a meeting with the media in the rose garden, the president boasted of the progress his Administration had made in increasing the testing capacity.
In no case was he wearing a mask.
"I say, and I will say it all the time: we are turning the corner," Trump said, referring to his perception that the country was getting through the crisis.
At that meeting he was accompanied by Vice President Mike Pence;
the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Alex M. Azar II;
Betsy DeVos, the Secretary of Education;
and Robert Ford, the CEO of Abbott Laboratories.
This Friday, a White House spokesman announced that
Pence tested negative for the virus in his routine checkup.
[What happens if Trump and Pence catch coronavirus and can't govern?]
Trump traveled to Cleveland on Tuesday for the presidential debate he held with his Democratic rival Joe Biden.
He was accompanied on that Air Force One flight by all his adult children and high-ranking White House members, such as Hope Hicks, and his campaign staff.
Among those who boarded the aircraft are:
Jason Miller, campaign strategist;
Stephen Miller, White House Policy Advisor;
Mark Meadows, White House chief of staff;
Robert C. O'Brien, the National Security Advisor who tested positive for the virus in July;
and Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio.
In the images released of the moment they boarded and got off the plane at that time, none of them wears face masks.
In the debate, both candidates were subjected to tests before the meeting and were placed in lecterns separated by several meters apart but did not wear masks during the television event.
On stage,
Trump mocked Biden, the Democratic presidential candidate, for his habit of wearing face masks in his public appearances.
Several aides and advisers to President Trump, including Hicks, walk to Marine One to depart from the White House on September 30, 2020. Getty Images
“I wear a mask when I think I need it.
Tonight, for example, everyone was tested and social distancing and all the things that must be done are respected, but I wear masks when necessary, "
said the president.
And then he added: “I don't wear the masks like him [Biden].
Every time I see him, he's wearing a mask.
He could be talking 60 meters away and he appears with the largest mask I have ever seen ”.
The New York Times reported that, on the flight back after the debate, Jared Kushner, the president's senior adviser and son-in-law, could be seen talking animatedly with his colleagues without wearing a mask.
[This has been Trump's response to the coronavirus pandemic and the sequence of mistakes that led him to ignore the urgency]
Upon landing at Andrews Base in the midst of a heavy storm, Lara Trump, the president's daughter-in-law, and Kimberly Guilfoyle, a senior campaign official and girlfriend of Donald Trump Jr., the president's eldest son, got together to share a umbrellas as they crossed the runway, talking and laughing.
Guilfoyle tested positive for the virus over the summer.
Until now, relatives of the president such as his sons
Ivanka and Barron, as well as his son-in-law Jared Kushner have tested negative
for coronavirus.
Trump traveled to Minnesota on Wednesday to chair a fundraiser at a private home in suburban Minneapolis and an outdoor rally in Duluth.
Hicks accompanied him in all those activities and, during the return flight, he began to feel bad for what he isolated himself in an Air Force One cabin.
On Thursday, Hicks publicly announced that he had caught the coronavirus.
However, Trump traveled to his private resort and golf course located in Bedminster, NJ, to attend a private fundraiser.
Several aides who were in contact with Hicks refused to accompany the president.
Because of that, New Jersey state authorities have begun to do a contact tracing procedure for people who attended that event, just hours before they were diagnosed with the coronavirus.
“The contact tracing process is underway.
We urge everyone who attended yesterday's event in Bedminster to take all precautions, including self-quarantine and getting tested
, "Gov. Phil Murphy said in a statement.
That night, Trump announced in an interview with Fox News that he and the first lady were being tested for the coronavirus.
Shortly after, he tweeted announcing that they were infected and were beginning their quarantine.
With information from The New York Times, NBC News, Fox News and AP