The White House is dropping temperature checks for anyone entering its grounds, removing safeguards imposed after two staffers tested positive for COVID-19.
It comes as restaurants in Washington, D.C., are allowed to reopen their dining rooms, and gyms return to business.
Anyone coming into contact with the president and vice president will still be tested for the novel coronavirus, said spokesman Judd Deere.
“In conjunction with Washington, DC entering phase two today, the White House is scaling back complex-wide temperature checks,” he said. “In addition to social distancing, hand sanitizer, regular deep cleaning of all work spaces, and voluntary facial coverings, every staff member and guest in close proximity to the president and vice president is still being temperature checked, asked symptom histories, and tested for COVID-19.”
Temperature checks were not a fool-proof way of detecting anyone carrying the virus. But, along with asking about symptoms, it offered a rudimentary first line of defense against anyone sick.
The White House had already dropped a requirement that all staff in the West Wing must wear face coverings, a safeguard imposed after the vice president’s spokeswoman and the president’s valet tested positive for the virus.
Officials are keen to return to normality and highlight the ways in which the country is reopening after months of social distancing.
However, they suffered a setback at the weekend when it emerged that six people working on preparations for a President Trump rally in Tulsa had caught the virus.
Almost 120,000 people have died in the United States from COVID-19.
