‘These are probably more vulnerable persons’: MGH doctor concerned about White House essential workers with COVID-19 outbreak
“I just want to make sure we’re remembering those people as potential contacts for this president.”
As efforts to track down who may have been exposed to the outbreak of the coronavirus at the White House continue, the chief of infectious diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital is urging officials not to forget those who may have been impacted by the virus cluster who don’t have political titles.
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President Donald Trump announced early Friday that he and his wife, first lady Melania Trump, had tested positive for COVID-19, hours after he confirmed his senior aide Hope Hicks had tested positive for the virus. As of Monday, eight people, including Sen. Mike Lee of Utah and the president’s campaign manager Bill Stepien, who had contact with the president have tested positive for the virus, The New York Times reports.
During an interview with CNN, Dr. Rochelle Walensky stressed the importance of including essential workers in the ongoing contact tracing at the White House, who also, she said, should be receiving rapid testing and support for being potentially exposed to the virus with the outbreak.
“There’s been a lot of discussion about senators, about campaign staffers, and others who have been close to the president,” Walensky said. “My understanding is that there are about 300 other essential workers who work in the White House. People who work in the facilities, who work on the grounds, and these are probably more vulnerable persons than maybe even some of the senators we have been talking about in terms of the communities from which they come. And in terms of the people who they live with, their ability to really quarantine at home. And I just want to make sure we’re remembering those people as potential contacts for this president.”
https://twitter.com/RWalensky/status/1312736153402044417
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