White House Orders Staff to Wear Masks After Pence Aide Infected

Sign up here for our daily coronavirus newsletter on what you need to know, and subscribe to our Covid-19 podcast for the latest news and analysis.

The White House ordered everyone entering the West Wing to wear a face mask, after Vice President Mike Pence’s press secretary tested positive for coronavirus infection last week.

The White House made the announcement in a memo addressed to staff on Monday, according to two people, and said employees didn’t need face coverings while working at their desks.

“Staff who sit in the West Wing are not required to wear a facial covering while at their desk if they are appropriately socially distanced from their colleagues,” the memo from the White House Management Office reads.

19,710 in U.S.Most new cases today

-14% Change in MSCI World Index of global stocks since Wuhan lockdown, Jan. 23

-1.​027 Change in U.S. treasury bond yield since Wuhan lockdown, Jan. 23

-4.​8% Global GDP Tracker (annualized), April

“Unless you absolutely need to conduct in-person business in the West Wing, we respectfully ask you to avoid unnecessary visits,” it added.

The memo was reported earlier by ABC News.

Pence briefly isolated himself over the weekend after the aide, Katie Miller, was diagnosed with Covid-19. The vice president returned to work on the White House grounds on Monday, though it was unclear if he entered the West Wing or met with President Donald Trump.

Miller was the second White House employee to test positive for the coronavirus last week. A member of the military who works as a valet on the grounds of the president’s residence was also diagnosed with the disease.

After Miller’s diagnosis, Pence traveled to Iowa with the state’s senators and met with the governor, Kim Reynolds, as well as faith leaders and food supply chain executives.

But he didn’t attend a meeting at the White House on Saturday with Trump and top military officials, nor did two members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who’ve had their own brushes with coronavirus: Chief of Naval Operations Michael Gilday and the chief of the National Guard Bureau, Air Force General Joseph Lengyel.

Lengyel tested positive on Saturday at the White House before the meeting. He later tested negative, a Defense Department spokesman said, and he tested negative again on Monday.

Gilday, who has had contact with an infected family member, tested negative over the weekend.

Iowa’s Reynolds announced Monday she had adopted a “modified quarantine” because Miller was present during her visit to the White House on Wednesday. Reynolds said she had no direct contact with the aide and feels healthy.

Source: Read Full Article