Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
COVID Continues Its March Through White House, Infecting Meadows, Five Others
The New York Times: Six In White House, Including Trump’s Chief Of Staff, Have The Coronavirus
Six White House aides and a Trump campaign adviser — including Mark Meadows, President Trump’s chief of staff — have contracted the coronavirus, officials said, raising fears of another outbreak sweeping through the ranks of the nation’s top officials as cases surge to record levels in the country. Mr. Meadows, who routinely shrugged off the need to wear masks and embraced Mr. Trump’s strategy of playing down the threat from the coronavirus over the summer, informed a small group of White House advisers that he had tested positive for the virus on Wednesday, a senior administration official said late Friday. (Haberman and Shear, 11/6)
Politico: White House Chief Of Staff Mark Meadows Tests Positive For Covid-19
It’s unclear when Meadows was diagnosed. He appeared mask-less at campaign headquarters with Trump and advisers on Election Day. He was with the president, first family, Cabinet secretaries and other high-profile guests in the White House residence that night. Then he was at the president’s speech in the East Room just after 2:30 a.m., interacting with dozens of aides and allies. Later Wednesday, Meadows huddled with campaign advisers to plot a path forward at the Trump 2020 headquarters in Virginia. A top aide to the chief of staff, special assistant to the president for legislative affairs Cassidy Hutchinson, was among those in the White House who tested positive, according to a White House official. The Trump campaign’s director of battleground strategy, Nick Trainer, also tested positive, according to three people familiar with the matter. Campaign aides who were in contact with Meadows and other aides have been asked to take Covid-19 tests on Saturday. (McGraw and Lippman, 11/6)
Bloomberg: Trump Aides Frustrated After Meadows’s Silence on Infection
Some of Donald Trump’s White House and campaign aides are frustrated that the president’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows, didn’t issue a statement after he tested positive for coronavirus this week, instead informing only a close circle of advisers. ... He spent time upstairs in the White House residence on Tuesday with Trump’s family, including all of his adult children, according to people familiar with the matter. He helped persuade Trump to deliver brief remarks to the country at 2:30 a.m. from the White House East Room. Meadows attended the speech, where the president claimed he had won the election before races had been called in key battleground states where votes were still being counted. Meadows returned to campaign headquarters on Wednesday, again without wearing a mask, two people familiar with the situation said. (Jacobs, Pager and Parker, 11/6)
Also —
Politico: Gaetz Tests Positive For Coronavirus Antibodies
Two more Florida Republican members of Congress have tested positive for Covid-19, including Rep. Matt Gaetz. Gaetz, a close ally of President Donald Trump, said he tested positive for the virus antibodies on Election Day, a likely sign he previously contracted the virus. (Dixon, 11/7)
Quartz: How To Clean A Covid-19 Infested White House For The Next Resident
Even though the Covid-19 virus only survives outside the body for a limited amount of time (28 days in lab conditions, much less in regular ones), it would be understandable if Joe Biden, his family, and staff wanted to make sure the White House was completely sanitized before they moved in. Luckily, that isn’t hard to do. According to Juan Ventura, who runs Paracas Group, a large Milan-based professional cleaning service that has been sanitizing private and corporate spaces during northern Italy’s devastating Covid-19 outbreaks, all it takes it a little time and some hydrogen peroxide. (Merelli, 11/7)
