CORONAVIRUS STRIKES STAFFERS INSIDE THE WHITE HOUSE

Ivanka’s personal assistant tests +ve for Coronavirus

WASHINGTON: Vice President Mike Pence’s press secretary has the Coronavirus, the White House said, making her the second person who works at the White House complex known to test positive for the virus this week.

President Donald Trump, who publicly identified the affected Pence aide, said he was not worried about the virus spreading in the White House. Nonetheless, officials said they were stepping up safety protocols for the complex.

Pence spokeswoman Katie Miller, who tested positive Friday, had been in recent contact with Pence but not with the president. She is married to Stephen Miller, a top Trump adviser. The White House had no immediate comment on whether Stephen Miller had been tested or if he was still working in the White House.

Katie Miller had tested negative Thursday, a day before her positive result.

This is why the whole concept of tests aren’t necessarily great, Trump said. The tests are perfect but something can happen between a test where it’s good and then something happens. The positive test for the senior Pence aide came one day after White House officials confirmed that a member of the military serving as one of Trump’s valets had tested positive for COVID-19.

Six people who had been in contact with Miller were scheduled to fly with Pence on Friday to Des Moines, Iowa, on Air Force Two. They were removed from the flight just before it took off, according to a senior administration official.

None of those people were exhibiting symptoms, but were asked to deplane so they could be tested out of an abundance of caution, a senior administration official told reporters traveling with Pence.

All six later tested negative, the White House said.

The official said staff in the West Wing are tested regularly but much of Pence’s staff which works next door in the Executive Office Building are tested less frequently. Katie Miller was not on the plane and had not been scheduled to be on the trip.

Pence, who is tested on a regular basis, was tested Friday. Miller tweeted she was doing well and looked forward to getting back to work.

White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said the administration was stepping up mitigation efforts already recommended by public health experts and taking other unspecified precautions to ensure the safety of the president.

Meadows said the White House was probably the safest place that you can come, but he was reviewing further steps to keep Trump and Pence safe.

The White House requires daily temperature checks of anyone who enters the White House complex and has encouraged social distancing among those working in the building. The administration has also directed regular deep cleaning of all work spaces.

Anyone who comes in close proximity to the president and vice president is tested daily for COVID-19.

WASHINGTON: Ivanka Trump’s personal assistant has tested positive for the deadly Coronavirus, making her the third White House staff member to be infected from COVID-19, a media report said on Saturday.

The assistant, who works in a personal capacity for US President Donald Trump’s daughter, has not been around her in several weeks, the CNN reported.

She has been teleworking for nearly two months and was tested out of caution, the report quoted a source as saying.

She was not symptomatic. Ivanka and her husband Jared

We’ve already put in a few protocols that we’re looking at, obviously, to make sure that the president and his immediate

Kushner both tested negative on Friday, the person familiar with the matter told the US news channel.

The development comes a day after President Trump confirmed that Vice President Mike Pence’s press secretary Katie Miller had tested positive for the Coronavirus.

“She’s a wonderful young woman, Katie, she tested very good for a long period of time and then all of a sudden today she tested positive,” Trump said during a meeting at the White House.

He said Miller had not come into contact with him but spent some time with Pence.

staff stay safe. But it’s not just the president, it’s all the workers that are here ... on a daily basis,” Meadows said.