Supporters of President Donald Trump who attended a large fundraiser in New Jersey this week began receiving calls from state health officials seeking to track down exposures related to the coronavirus outbreak at the White House. rice field.
Dallas, Texas, supporter Charlie Corian, who was pictured with Trump inside the president’s Bedminster Country Club on Thursday, said he received an email on Sunday.
“The Somerset County Health Department and the New Jersey Department of Health understand that you attended the event…at which point you may have been exposed to COVID-19,” ABC News said in an email obtained by
The outreach comes after Trump tested positive for COVID-19, raising questions about how far the virus has spread in the White House. The New Jersey Department of Health confirmed Sunday that the Republican National Committee provided a list of more than 200 attendees and has a contact tracing team that contacts individuals on the list and club staff members. Department spokesperson Dawn Thomas told ABC News that states are “evaluating the level of contact with the president and his staff and providing public health.”
It remains unclear to what extent the White House and the campaign helped the tracking effort. He said he has received minimal help as he is desperately trying to determine if someone at the event may have brought the virus into the community.
The list provided by the RNC on Friday contained only names and email addresses, not cell phone numbers, the official told ABC News. Tracers prefer to be contacted by phone to know that an alert has been received.
A golfer plays golf at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey, Friday, October 2, 2020.
Seth Wenig/AP
Officials also said Trump Country Club had yet to provide information about any employees on site that day, or any other members or guests unrelated to the event. said it is hosting a golf invitation with more than 180 participants.
“This is important in light of reports that there was another club event at the site that day,” they said. “We have yet to receive information about everyone who was there.”
When asked for comment on the contact tracing efforts, the Trump campaign referred ABC News to the RNC, which told ABC News it handed over the list to Gov. Phil Murphy’s office and has not heard from him since. Told. Information and contact tracing has begun,” Dan Bryan, a spokesman for New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, told ABC News.
The RNC sent participants an email notifying them of positive cases and provided a fundraising schedule. Guests said the photo line, which allowed guests who paid or collected $50,000 to be photographed with the president, took place inside the Bedminster Clubhouse.
Kolean told ABC News there were about 60 donors who took pictures with Trump on Thursday. They waited in line outside the large room where Trump was being held with photographers and campaign staff, he said. Once inside, there was an “X” indicating where to stand on the floor, six feet from the president.
However, Corian said he and the president were not wearing masks when he was posed for a photo with the president, but those who were photographed with the president spoke to him for more than a few minutes. “It’s nice to meet you, Mr. President. Good luck with your election. He said thank you and thank you for being there.”
Health departments elsewhere are also trying to track the movements of other Americans who may have attended Trump events in their own states. Sent him to multiple states across the country.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said Sunday that the White House has not been in touch with him about contact tracing despite the possible infection.
“They haven’t reached out to me,” DeWine said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “I know I spoke to the CEO of the Cleveland Clinic the other day. He gave me an update and gave me a report. never told me about it, no.”
A White House event surrounding Trump’s nomination of Justice Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court has also set red flags, with at least eight people attending the event testing positive. Health officials in the District of Columbia could not be reached on Sunday. But Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said the White House is responsible for contact tracing.
“White House doctors will conduct their own contact tracing and provide guidance to affected individuals,” LaToya Foster, a spokesperson for Mayor Muriel Bowser, said in a statement to local news site DCist. “As has been done throughout the pandemic, state health agencies are only including residents of their own country in their case totals.”
Ben Siegel and Soorin Kim of ABC News contributed to this report.
This report was featured on the Monday, October 5, 2020, episode of ABC News’ Daily News podcast “Start Here.”
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