Coronavirus cases keep piling up at the White House, in the wake of Donald Trump's positive test. The outbreak has reached Republicans in the Senate and thrown Trump's presidential campaign into disarray.
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Trump's COVID-19 outbreak: Who got infected?
Donald Trump's coronavirus infection has been followed by a chain of cases spanning the White House, Congress and his presidential reelection campaign. Many were infected after attending a White House event.
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Adviser Hope Hicks
A former White House staffer, Hope Hicks had returned recently to help Trump prepare for the first presidential debate against Joe Biden. She was the first person in his surroundings to test positive for COVID-19, just hours before the president confirmed his infection.
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First lady Melania Trump
Given her proximity to Trump, it was no surprise that first lady of the US also tested positive for coronavirus following Trump's infection. She received medical assistance at the White House and did not require hospitalization at Walter Reed Medical Center.
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Personal assistant Nicholas Luna
Nicholas Luna tested positive for COVID-19 soon after Trump did. As personal assistant, his job is to accompany Trump day and night. His job puts him in as close proximity to the president as the first lady.
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Campaign manager Bill Stepien
Trump's campaign manager, Bill Stepien, also tested positive for COVID-19 on the same day the president did. His diagnosis dealt a blow to a campaign he had just recently begun to head, after the departure of embattled former campaign manager Brad Parscale.
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RNC chairwoman Ronna McDaniel
Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel tested positive for coronavirus soon after the president and went into quarantine at her home in Michigan. Like Bill Stepien, she plays a key role in Trump's campaign and was in close contact with him in recent weeks.
Adviser Kellyanne Conway tested positive for the virus on the same day as Trump. Although she officially left the White House weeks earlier — citing the need to spend more time with her family — she attended Trump's White House ceremony to announce Amy Coney Barrett's nomination to the Supreme Court.
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Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie
Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie announced that he would check himself into a hospital because of a COVID-19 infection the day after Trump's positive test. Christie had attended an event at the White House for Supreme Court Justice nominee Amy Coney Barrett, where he was seen without a mask and not socially distancing.
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Republican Senator Ron Johnson
Wisconsin Republican Senator Ron Johnson said he tested positive for COVID one day after Trump's positive test. A close ally of the president, Johnson was also at the event for Supreme Court justice nominee Amy Coney Barrett.
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Republican Senator Thom Tillis
North Carolina Republican Senator Thom Tillis said he tested positive for coronavirus a day after the president did. He, too, had attended the White House event for Supreme Court justice nominee Amy Coney Barrett. Tillis, who is facing reelection this year, is a member of the Justice Committee that would process the nomination.
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Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said she tested positive for COVID-19 three days after the president's positive test. She indicated that she experienced no symptoms and said she would quarantine while continuing to work from home. She gave her last appearance to reporters, without a mask, hours before her positive test results came back.
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Republican Senator Mike Lee
Utah Republican Senator Mike Lee said he tested positive for coronavirus on the same day as Trump. He was also one of several people who attended the White House event for Trump's Supreme Court justice nominee. Tillis, a staunch Trump ally, is also a member of the Justice Committee that would process the nomination.
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Senior adviser Stephen Miller
Stephen Miller, a senior policy adviser to Trump and one of his inner circle, announced he'd tested positive for COVID-19 four days after the president. In a statement, he said he'd been self-isolating and testing negative until that point. The White House said Miller is "doing well" and quarantining.
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The US government continues to grapple with a coronavirus outbreak that has sent ripples across Washington, as three staffers of the White House Press Office confirmed infections on Monday.
White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany announced her positive COVID-19 test on Monday, saying she would go into quarantine, but would alsocontinue to perform her duties.
Shortly after, US Broadcasters ABC News and CNN reported that Chad Gilmartin, who works in the White House press office, also tested positive over the weekend. Bloomberg News also reported that White House communications aide Karoline Leavitt, as well as other mid-level staffers, were confirmed to be infected.
While Vice-President Mike Pence has so far tested negative, Melania Trump, assistant Nicholas Luna,aides Kellyanne Conway and Hope Hicks, Trump’s campaign manager Bill Stepien, Republican National Committee chairwoman Ronna McDaniel andformer New Jersey Governor Chris Christiewere among those close to the president who revealed infections shortly after he did.
But the White House COVID-19 wave extended beyond its walls, complicating Republican plans for the US Senate to speedily process the nomination of Amy Coney Barret to replace the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Trump's Rose Garden event to announce Barrett's nomination late last week appears to have been ground zero for the current White House outbreak, as attendees such as University of Notre Dame president John Jenkins, former governor Christie and Republican Senators Mike Lee, Ron Jonson and Tom Tillis, all tested positive days later.
Lee and Tillis are members of the Senate Judiciary Committee and are now unable to be physically present for hearings that were originally scheduled to begin this week.
Democrats have demanded that the nomination process be postponed, to safeguard the safety of Senators and staff, as Senate rules require in-person attendance for voting.
But Republican Judiciary Committee leader and Trump ally Lindsey Graham has vowed to proceed with the hearings and could move to alter the rules to allow the quarantined senators to vote remotely. He has scheduled the committee hearings to begin October 12.
Campaign upended
As Trump remains symptomatic, his second presidential debate, originally scheduled for October 15,against Democratic challenger Joe Biden is now up in the air.
Biden, who has tested negatively in consecutive COVID-19 tests, following Trump’s infection, told reporters that he would "do whatever the experts say" in terms of participating in a debate, but adding "I think we should be very cautious."
Unable to campaign and stuck in the hospital, Trump took to Twitter on Monday to continue to make his case for the election, in a flurry of one-sentence tweets encouraging voters to turn out.
But this week, the spotlight will land on vice-president Mike Pence, should he continue to test negatively, as his debate against Democratic contender Kamala Harris is still scheduled for this Wednesday.
One opinion poll following Trump’s positive coronavirus test showed Biden extending his lead against Trump, with voters saying they would back him 51% to 39%. Though the race for the electoral college remains tight, but Biden still holds leads in several so-called battleground states, which are more decisive to win the election than the popular vote.
In the same poll, some 65% of respondents, including 9 in 10 registered Democrats and 5 in 10 registered Republicans, agreed that "if President Trump had taken coronavirus more seriously, he probably would not have been infected."
