Three senior members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force have gone into self-quarantine. Despite the pandemic makes its way to the White House complex, President Donald Trump’s top economic advisers emphasized on Sunday the importance of states getting more businesses and offices reopen.
The White House dispatched several of its top economic advisers to hit the Sunday talk shows. The appearances came on the heels of three key advisers, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, taking new precautionary steps after coming into contact with someone who had tested positive for COVID-19. They have been in self-isolation for two weeks.
Fauci is the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and has become nationally known for his simple and direct explanations to the public about the coronavirus and COVID-19, the disease it causes. Also quarantining are Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, Stephen Hahn.
Redfield will be “teleworking for the next two weeks” after it was determined he had a “low-risk exposure” to a person at the White House, the CDC said in a statement Saturday evening. The statement said he felt fine and has no symptoms. Just a few hours earlier, the Food and Drug Administration confirmed that Hahn had come in contact with someone who tested positive and was in self-quarantine for the next two weeks.
Fauci’s institute said that he has tested negative for COVID-19 and will work from home for two weeks in isolation and will continue to be tested regularly.
Last Friday, Vice President Mike Pence and press secretary Katie Miller was diagnosed with the coronavirus. She is the wife of Trump’s aide Stephen Miller. Vice President Pence did not sit in isolation, although Fauci and his team kept in isolation as they came in contact with the infected persons.
All three are currently without infection and are in good health. All three are set to address a Senate committee on Tuesday.
Coronavirus infection has killed more than 79,500 people in the United States so far. The number of such infections has reached more than 13,29,000.
