Three White House reporters tested positive for COVID-19, according to a memo from the White House Correspondents’ Association obtained by the Washington Examiner.
The reporters, none of whom were named, all received their positive test results on Friday, hours after President Trump, first lady Melania Trump, and White House adviser Hope Hicks all got the positive diagnoses.
The first reporter who tested positive did so when they were tested at the White House on Friday morning. This reporter was also at the White House on Sunday for a presidential briefing.
The second reporter who tested positive last was at the White House on Saturday before acting as the out-of-town travel pool on Saturday for the president’s trip to Middletown, Pennsylvania, for a campaign event. This reporter started showing symptoms of the virus on Thursday.
The third journalist who tested positive was at the White House on Saturday and Sunday. This individual, who began experiencing symptoms late Wednesday, was at Trump’s ceremony where he nominated Judge Amy Comey Barrett to the Supreme Court on Saturday.
Utah Sen. Mike Lee, who was also at the nominating ceremony, announced he tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday as well.
That third journalist also acted as a part of the in-town travel pool on Sunday, meaning there were two journalists at the president’s Sunday briefing who have since tested positive for COVID-19.
The WHCA is “strongly encouraging” every reporter who has been exposed to the virus to get tested “before returning to the White House complex.” In an effort to mitigate the spread among the press corps, it is “insisting that journalists who are not in the pool and do not have an enclosed workspace to refrain from working out of the White House at this time,” adding that “when in the shared press areas, including at desks, please wear a mask at all times. Avoid congregating in the break room or other areas. We urge you to take meals outdoors to minimize any time spent inside without a mask.”
Another likely avenue of concern for the correspondents’ association is the press briefing that occurred on Thursday. Press secretary Kayleigh McEnany held the briefing around the time Hicks, whom she had been in close contact with, tested positive, although McEnany has said she was unaware of the diagnosis at the time of the briefing.
