Trump returns to Oval Office as he recuperates from COVID-19

Inside the office, Trump was joined by chief of staff Mark Meadows and social media director Dan Scavino. Outside stood a cart stocked with medical gowns, respirator masks, and plastic goggles.

Morgenstern assured reporters that a visit by Trump outside the executive residence could be done safely.

“We can disinfect regularly,” he said. “There’s certainly ways to do it without compromising anyone.”

And staff in proximity to Trump could wear masks, or keep at a safe distance.

“We have PPE that we can use,” he said. “And we can interact with him standing back like you’re standing back. And people can wear masks or goggles or gloves or whatever may be needed.”

He added, “We have the CDC guidelines.”

Morgenstern said he did not know when Trump last tested negative for COVID-19 and said officials did not plan to “go back through a bunch of records and look backwards.”

He added, “We’re looking to contact tracing processes to mitigate further spread of the disease.”

The president returned to the White House on Monday after a weekend spent at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, where he received treatment. Trump was admitted last week after testing positive for COVID-19, but White House physician Sean Conley said in an update Wednesday that the president has been “symptom-free” for more than a day.

More than a dozen close Trump associates have tested positive for the virus.

The White House noted Tuesday several “health and safety precautions” being taken to aid residence staff, who are separate from West Wing employees, and announced the hiring of “a ‘well-being’ consultant” to help staffers with mental health concerns.

Journalists have been advised by the White House Correspondents’ Association “to avoid working from the White House grounds entirely if it can be avoided.”

Advisers said Trump had pressed to resume work in the office, giving conflicting accounts Wednesday as to whether this had already happened. Trump has been heavily criticized for his attitude toward the novel coronavirus, even after he tested positive, as members of his inner circle and others have also contracted the virus.

“He wants to speak to the American people, and he will do so soon,” Morgenstern told reporters. Though Trump has been active on Twitter, he has not made a public address since returning from the hospital Monday evening other than by video.

Trump tweeted at 3:43 p.m. EDT that he had spoken with the governors of Texas and Louisiana during his briefing on Delta, which is threatening to make landfall over the Gulf Coast by the end of the week.