How was it possible to contract virus while inside White House bubble?

Search launched to discover who could have infected president, including his contacts with staff and attendance at various events

THE search is on to find out how coronavirus infiltrated the White House bubble.

Hope Hicks, 31, Mr Trump’s former communications director, who tested positive before him, had returned to his side ahead of the election campaign.

Last Saturday, Mr Trump announced Amy Coney Barret as his Supreme Court nominee, in a ceremony in the White House rose garden. Several people who were there, including a US senator, have since tested positive.

After the event Ms Hicks flew with the president on Air Force One and was seen clapping along to the Village People’s YMCA at a rally in Pennsylvania.

On Sunday, Mr Trump held a private reception for “Gold Star” families, relatives of fallen military heroes, at the White House. It is not known if Ms Hicks was present. But on Tuesday she was with Mr Trump on the flight to the first presidential debate in Cleveland, Ohio, where she was seen getting off Air Force One without a mask.

Others on the plane included Ivanka Trump, Robert O’brien, the national security adviser, and Bill Stepien, Mr Trump’s campaign manager.

Later, Ms Hicks was seen at the InterContinental Suites Hotel Cleveland, where Mr Trump spent a few hours before the debate. The president tested negative before taking the stage opposite Joe Biden.

The following day, on Wednesday, Ms Hicks was among the small group of officials who went with the president on a campaigning trip to Minnesota.

She was seen walking across the White House’s south lawn to the helicopter at 2.43pm with Jared Kushner, the presidential adviser, and Dan Scavino, Mr Trump’s social media chief. None were wearing masks.

Anyone who comes into contact with the president, including journalists, are tested beforehand. The rapid test involves a nasal swab and a positive result is detected in just five minutes.

However, it can take several days for enough viral particles to gather in the nose to lead to a positive test, and there can be “false negative” results.

Ms Hicks, along with Mr Kushner and Mr Scavino, were tested on Wednesday morning, and were negative. The group boarded and sat down in the confined space of Marine One, and were then joined by Mr Trump. Some White House officials noted that Mr Trump himself seemed fatigued on Wednesday. It

raised the possibility that he, rather than Ms Hicks, was infected first.

The helicopter took the group to Joint Base Andrews, where they boarded Air Force One. After arriving at Minneapolis-saint Paul Airport, Minnesota, they travelled byroad to two private residence sin Shorewood, Minnesota, for indoor fundraising events.

Mr Trump’s group then moved on to Duluth Airport in Minnesota for an evening rally. It was shorter than usual,

at only 45 minutes. Ms Hicks reported feeling minor symptoms after the rally and for the flight back to Washington she was isolated in a different part of Air Force One. Back at Joint Base Andrews she disembarked from a separate exit at the back of the plane.

Shortly afterwards, late on Wednesday, Mr Trump was seen arriving back at the White House on Marine One, looking tired. He had reportedly fallen asleep on the plane, which is usually a time when he tweets. Ms Hicks’s diagnosis was confirmed on Thursday morning. Questions have been raised over why it took so long. It may have been that a more accurate, and more time-consuming test, was used.

The result was kept to a very small circle. Kayleigh Mcenany, Mr Trump’s press secretary, was unaware when she went ahead with a press briefing at 11am on Thursday. But Mr Trump decided to still go to his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, on Thursday afternoon for a meeting with donors.

Ms Mcenany and Mr Scavino were due to travel with him. Just before Marine One took off, Ms Hicks’s diagnosis came through, and they were told not to go because they had been in contact with her.

The president’s event in Bedminster was closed to the press. It was reportedly attended by up to 100 people and it is not known if he wore a mask. According to some reports he appeared “lethargic” and had cold-like symptoms.

Meanwhile, word of Ms Hicks’s diagnosis began filtering through to other White House officials. The news only became public at 8.09pm on Thursday when it was tweeted by Jennifer Jacobs, Bloomberg’s senior White House correspondent.

About an hour later, at 9pm, Mr Trump conducted a television interview by phone with Sean Hannity, the Fox News host. He said: “I just went out for a test. It will come back later I guess, and the first lady also, because we spend a lot of time with Hope.”

Mr Trump suggested Ms Hicks may have contracted the virus from hugging members of the military and l aw enforcement. He said: “She’s a very warm person with them. She knows there’s a risk, but she is young.”

The president said he expected to get test results, for himself and the first lady, later on Thursday night or early yesterday morning, and did not know if they would be quarantining.

Those comments caused surprise because Ms Hicks had already been positive for many hours. As in her case, it was believed Mr Trump must have undergone a longer, more accurate test.

At 10.05pm on Thursday the White House issued a schedule suggesting that, yesterday, Mr Trump would go ahead with a fundraising event at his Washington hotel, and a political rally in Sanford, Florida. Then, at 10.44pm, Mr Trump tweeted that he and the first lady would quarantine.

Two hours later, at 12.54am, Mr Trump’s announcement came, on Twitter, that he and the first lady had tested positive.

Some White House officials noted that Mr Trump seemed fatigued on Wednesday

‘She’s a very warm person. She knows there’s a risk (from hugging), but she is young’