President Trump will not abide by a new mandate ordering all visitors who enter New Jersey to quarantine for 14 days, according to a White House spokesman.
Judd Deere confirmed on Wednesday that the president will not be quarantining for two weeks before visiting his golf course in Bedminster, New Jersey, this weekend. The spokesman argued that Trump does not need to follow New Jersey’s policy despite his recent visit to Arizona, which has the highest coronavirus positivity rate in the nation.
“The president of the United States is not a civilian,” Deere said. “Anyone who is in close proximity to him, including staff, guests, and press are tested for COVID-19 and confirmed to be negative.”
“With regard to Arizona, the White House followed its COVID mitigation plan to ensure the president did not come into contact with anyone who was symptomatic or had not been tested,” he said. “Anyone traveling in support of the president this weekend will be closely monitored for symptoms and tested for COVID and therefore pose little to no risk to the local populations.”
The governors of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut all agreed to mandate a 14-day quarantine for visitors from states with high community spread levels to help mitigate the pandemic after suffering the worst outbreak in the nation during the months of March and April. All three states currently have a coronavirus positivity rating below 2%, while Arizona has a positivity rate of 22.1%.
