The White House may require mandatory mask wearing inside the West Wing after aides to President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence tested positive for the coronavirus.
Trump’s valet tested positive for the virus Thursday, and Pence’s press secretary, Katie Miller, tested positive Friday. Both were “in the West Wing quite a bit,” a senior administration official told McClatchy.
“People who are closer to the president obviously need to be more closely observed,” this official said.
There is no mandatory face-covering policy for the West Wing or for the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, where most staff offices are located, but this is now under review.
Miller’s test result came as Pence was preparing to leave for Iowa, causing a delay to Pence’s departure. Six aides with whom she had been in contact were asked to deplane.
Miller is married to Stephen Miller, a senior adviser to the president.
Trump addressed the news Friday during an event at the White House. “She’s a wonderful young woman, Katie,” Trump said in the Oval Office. “She tested very good for a long period of time, and then all of a sudden, today she tested positive. She hasn’t come into contact with me. She spent some time with the vice president. She tested positive out of the blue.”
Trump said he was not worried. “We’re taking very strong precautions … dealing with a very invisible situation.”
“The White House is probably the safest place you can come to,” Trump’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows, said Friday.
The White House began testing reporters for the virus in April after a journalist developed symptoms. Prior to this, staff used temperature checks to try to ensure that all attendees were coronavirus-free.
All journalists wore masks at a press briefing Friday.
“We’ve taken every single precaution to protect the president,” said press secretary Kayleigh McEnany. “The same guidelines that our experts have put in place: We clean the facility, we social distance, we keep people 6 feet away from one another.”
