Trump met with Brazilian official who tested positive for coronavirus
A Brazilian official who met Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago last weekend has tested positive for coronavirus.
Fabio Wajngarten, communications secretary to Jair Bolsonaro, accompanied the Brazilian president on a visit to Florida, where the two leaders dined together.
On Thursday the White House press secretary, Stephanie Grisham, said both Trump and Vice-President Mike Pence had “almost no interactions” with Wajngarten and therefore did not need to be tested themselves.
But during the visit Wajngarten shared on Instagram a picture of himself, Trump, Pence and Brazilian TV presenter Alvaro Garnero, while in one video, Wajngarten (wearing glasses) was seen just behind Bolsonaro and Trump.
Guidelines from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) state that coronavirus can spread “between people who are in close contact with one another (within about 6ft)”.
A Brazilian government statement said: “The medical service of the presidency of the Republic adopted and is adopting all the necessary preventative measures to preserve the health of the president of the republic and the entire presidential committee which accompanied him on the recent trip to the United States, as well as presidential palace staff.”
The US government had been informed “so that they can adopt the necessary cautionary measures”, the statement added.
Grisham cited the CDC when she said “there is currently no indication to test patients without symptoms, and only people with prolonged close exposure to confirmed positive cases should self-quarantine”.
Speaking in the Oval Office on Thursday, Trump said he wasn’t concerned. Asked about his dinner with the Brazilians, he said: “We did nothing very unusual.”
Two Republican senators, however, announced self-quarantine arising from their attendance at Mar-a-Lago.
Rick Scott of Florida said that though the Senate’s attending physician had advised him his risk was low, he was self-quarantining following “potential contact” with Wajngarten. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a close Trump ally, said that though he had “no recollection of direct contact with the president of Brazil, who is awaiting the results of a coronavirus test, or his spokesman who tested positive”, he would be working from home.
It was also reported that Wajngarten met leaders of Southcom, the US military’s southern command, who then travelled to meetings on Capitol Hill in Washington DC and at the Pentagon.
In Canada, the communications director for Justin Trudeau said the prime minister’s wife, Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, had exhibited “mild flu-like symptoms including a low fever” after a trip to London and was being tested for Covid-19. Trudeau himself was “opting to self-isolate and work from home until receiving Sophie’s results”, Cameron Ahmad said in a statement.
Wajngarten was in home quarantine. News of his condition was first revealed by his wife Sophie on a WhatsApp group of parents at the school their children attend, the Folha de S Paulo newspaper reported on Wednesday.
“My husband returned from the trip to Miami yesterday and did the Covid exam which was positive,” she wrote.
However, Wajngarten attacked Brazilian media and tweeted: “I’m well.”
Like Trump, Bolsonaro has downplayed the crisis. On Wednesday, he said “Other flus kill more than this” and has also called concern over coronavirus “oversized”.
On Thursday, Spanish-language reports said Bolsonaro himself had tested positive for coronavirus. The reports were discredited as fake news and none of Brazil’s main media sites confirmed them. Bolsonaro has however taken a test, as Senator Graham said, and results will be ready on Friday.
Covid-19 is a respiratory illness which can spread via sneezes or coughs or by physical contact. Most who contract the disease recover but it can be fatal, particularly among the elderly and those with underlying health concerns.
According to the latest figures from the World Health Organization, which on Wednesday declared the outbreak a pandemic, nearly 120,000 cases have been confirmed worldwide, with 4,300 deaths.
In the US, the CDC reports 938 confirmed cases and 29 deaths, in 38 states and Washington DC. Other estimates of the toll are higher.
As the federal government has struggled to implement sufficient testing and preventative measures, Trump’s own responses have been widely criticised.
The president has downplayed the dangers posed by the virus, which he has repeatedly compared to the common flu; predicted it would be killed by warmer weather, which experts say is not certain; said a vaccine is imminent when experts say it
is not; and continued to shake hands with supporters in public, against the advice of health experts.
Republican members of Congress including Trump’s new chief of staff self-quarantined after an individual who attended the recent Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) outside Washington tested positive for coronavirus. Trump and Pence also attended that gathering.
In an Oval Office address on Wednesday night, Trump announced a suspension of travel to the US from Europe, excepting the UK. At the same time, to a sense of growing national dismay, the NBA suspended its season after a player tested positive and the Hollywood actor Tom Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson were revealed to have been hospitalised in Australia with the virus. On Thursday, as disruptions to normal life increased, other major sports leagues also suspended their seasons.
Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump said: “We had dinner in Florida at Mar-a-Lago with the entire [Brazilian] delegation,” he said. “I don’t know if the press aide was there. But we did nothing very unusual.”
“We need a little separation,” he added. “Until such time as this [coronavirus] goes away. It’s going to go away.” The president also said: “In the meantime we want to lose as few people as possible. This morning, is it 32?”
“Thirty-two’s a lot. Thirty-two’s too many.”
Trump was meeting the Irish prime minister, Leo Varadkar. They avoided shaking hands.