President Trump Says He Was Tested for Coronavirus

During a press conference on Saturday, President Donald Trump said he was tested for the novel coronavirus, officially known as COVID-19, on Friday night and has not yet learned the results. He said he took the test because the press repeatedly asked if he had been tested during a press conference on Friday.

“I also took the test last night,” he told reporters. “I decided I should based on the press conference yesterday. People were asking, ‘did I take the test?’” When asked how long until the public learned the results, he said, “I don’t know, whatever it takes, a day or two days.”

The White House also announced on Saturday that it is conducting temperature check on anyone who has come in close contact with the President or Vice President Mike Pence, according to the Associated Press.

On Friday, the White House announced that at the President’s Mar-a-Lago club, Trump came into contact with two individuals later confirmed to have COVID-19, one of whom he shook hands with and one of whom sat at his dinner table. The White House said the CDC categorized the interactions as having a low risk for transmission and did not require quarantine. The President’s doctor also reportedly said in a memo Friday night that Trump did not need to be tested or self-quarantine.

At Saturday’s press conference, Vice President Mike Pence said the U.S. would suspend all travel to the United Kingdom and Ireland affective midnight Monday night, Eastern Time.

The White House announced on Wednesday that non-U.S. citizens who had traveled to European countries in the Schengen Area — 26 countries that typically don’t restrict movement amongst each other including Italy, Spain and France — would be banned from entering the U.S. for 30 days.

The President also said that he is “working with the states” and is considering other travel restrictions domestically, “specifically from certain areas.”

According to a tracker by John’s Hopkins University on Saturday afternoon Eastern Time, 2,177 cases of coronavirus have been confirmed the the U.S., and at least 47 people have died. On Friday, the President declared a state of emergency as schools and businesses across the country close in an attempt to stem the spread of the virus.

View original article
Contributor: Madeleine Carlisle