The White House press secretary announced that she will be working from home out of “an abundance of caution.”
Stephanie Grisham, who filled the role of press secretary in July 2019, reportedly worked remotely on Monday out of concern for others. Grisham told CNN that her decision was made “out of an abundance of caution” after she made contact with members of a Brazilian delegation who tested positive for COVID-19 in the Palm Beach, Florida, Mar-a-Lago resort earlier this month.
President Trump, who also met with the Brazilian officials, announced he took the coronavirus test last Friday and tested negative for the infection, according to the White House physician’s office.
“This evening, I received confirmation that the test is negative,” said White House physician Sean Conley, later adding that the information was released with Trump’s permission.
As the White House coronavirus task force gave a press conference on Saturday, Trump told reporters that he decided to take the test in response to Friday’s press conference, during which he declared a state of national emergency.
“By the way, I had my temperature taken coming into the room,” Trump prefaced his statement to reporters. “I also took the test last night, and I decided I should based on the press conference yesterday.”
Other administration officials, including first daughter Ivanka Trump, Attorney General William Barr, and White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, have also been exposed to people who tested positive for the coronavirus. Peter Dutton, the Australian minister for foreign affairs, interacted with them recently while attending a conference.
Ivanka Trump “worked from home” following her interaction, though she did not “require testing” because she did not exhibit any symptoms.
COVID-19 cases have appeared in every continent except Antarctica. Nearly 181,000 people have tested positive for the virus around the world, killing over 7,000 people. In the United States, there are over 4,400 confirmed cases of the virus, which has killed approximately 78 people.
