Trump tests negative for virus; travel ban expands
WASHINGTON
President Donald Trump has tested negative for the new coronavirus, according to the president’s personal physician.
The White House released the test results Saturday night after Trump told reporters hours earlier that he had taken the coronavirus test, following days of resisting being screened despite the fact that he had been in recent contact with three people who have tested positive for the virus, including members of the Brazilian president’s delegation who visited with him at his Florida resort.
“One week after having dinner with the Brazilian delegation in Mar-a-Lago, the President remains symptom-free,” Sean Conley, the president’s physician, said in a memo.
Trump told reporters at a White House briefing on Saturday that he had his temperature taken and it was “totally normal,” shortly before stepping into the room to discuss the government’s efforts to halt the spread of the virus.
The pandemic has now infected more than 2,200 people in the U.S. and caused at least 50 deaths.
The president had multiple direct and indirect contacts with people who have since tested positive for the virus, including three people he spent time with last weekend at his Mar-aLago club in Florida.
The Brazilian Embassy in Washington said late Friday that the country’s charge d'affaires, Nestor Forster, tested positive after sitting at Trump’s dinner table.
So, too, have a top aide to Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who took a photo with Trump and attended a party with him, and another person who attended a fundraiser with the president that Sunday, according to two GOP officials who spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss private health matters.
On Saturday, the White House announced that it is now conducting temperature checks on anyone who is in close contact with Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, including reporters who attend a White House briefing and anyone entering the Oval Office.
ELSEWHERE
A U. S. extends travel ban: President Trump said the United States will broaden its European travel ban to include the United Kingdom and Ireland, which were initially excluded. The announcement came on a day Britain’s death toll nearly doubled from the day before to 21, and the number of people infected rose to more than 1,100 from about 800 the previous day.
Under the restrictions on European travel, American citizens, green card holders and others are still allowed to return home to the U.S., but will be funneled to 13 airports and be subjected to health screenings and quarantine orders. Trump says he’s considering imposing restrictions on travel within the U.S. to areas hit hard by the coronavirus spread. “If you don’t have to travel, I wouldn’t do it,” he said.
A New York State reports its first death: Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the state has reported its first death in the coronavirus pandemic, an 82-year-old woman who had been previously hospitalized with emphysema. Cuomo said that she died Friday at a hospital in New York City.
A Apple to close stores for two weeks: Tech giant Apple is closing its stores outside of China for two weeks and will only sell online as part of efforts to fight the global coronavirus pandemic. CEO Tim Cook tweeted Saturday that Apple would temporarily close those stores until March 27.
Cook also said that all o fApple’s stores in China have reopened. Apple’s online stores remain open. The company temporarily shut its 42 stores in mainland China at the height of the country’s outbreak.The iPhone maker has more than 500 retail stores worldwide, with about half in the United States.