Donald Trump‘s chief of staff Mark Meadows has tested positive for COVID-19.
Bloomberg reported on Friday night that Meadows, 61, was confirmed to be infected with the virus, along with at least four other White House aides.
As with previous outbreaks, the White House tried to keep it secret, CNN and Bloomberg reported.
The White House told DailyMail.com (not ABN TV) that the White House medical unit has completed all contract tracing relating to Meadows’ diagnosis, but did not provide further details.
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His diagnosis takes the number of people in the White House orbit to have tested positive to at least 46.
New York magazine reported that 36 had tested positive on October 14 – before Mike Pence’s chief of staff and four aides were confirmed to have contracted the virus on October 25.
The five new cases confirmed on Friday pushes the tally to 46.
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On Friday, more than 125,000 Americans tested positive – a new single-day record, and the third consecutive day with more than 100,000 new cases every day.
It was unclear when Meadows tested positive.
He was last in the White House on Thursday, CNN reported.
Trump tested positive on October 1 and is thought unlikely to become infected again.
Meadows was with the president throughout his treatment at the Walter Reed medical center.
On October 25, Meadows told CNN the US was ‘not going to control’ the coronavirus pandemic.
‘We are not going to control the pandemic. We are going to control the fact that we get vaccines, therapeutics, and other mitigation areas,‘ he said.
Pressed Tapper on why the US isn’t going to get the pandemic under control, Meadows said: ‘Because it is a contagious virus just like the flu.’
He added that the Trump administration is ‘making efforts to contain it.’
‘What we need to do is make sure that we have the proper mitigation factors, whether it’s therapies or vaccines or treatments to make sure that people don’t die from this,’ Meadows said.
The White House has been battling a coronavirus outbreak since September 26, when a Rose Garden ‘superspreader event’ was held – the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett.
Meadows was with Trump on his final two-day, seven state, 10 rally campaign swing where he was spotted at the events without wearing a face mask.
On that trip, Meadows had close contact with members of the Trump family who have not been diagnosed with COVID – including Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump.
Additionally, Meadows was at the White House on election night where he attended a party in the East Wing filled with prominent Trump supporters, including the president’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, 76.
Organizers said that everyone would be tested for COVID-19 on entry.
Earlier on Tuesday, Meadows joined Trump at the campaign headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, and was again not wearing a mask.
On Thursday he was in the White House.
