White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany announced on Monday she has tested positive for Covid-19, three days after President Donald Trump was hospitalized with the disease.
“After testing negative consistently, including every day since Thursday, I tested positive for Covid-19 on Monday morning while experiencing no symptoms,” McEnany said in a statement.
“No reporters, producers, or members of the press are listed as close contacts by the White House Medical Unit,” added Trump’s spokeswoman, who said she was going into quarantine following the diagnosis.
Trump and his wife, Melania, had on Monday confirmed contracting COVID-19, with the US leader taking to social media on Friday to announce the development.
“We will get through this TOGETHER!” he wrote.
The extraordinary setback for Trump had immediate political consequences just 31 days before election day, forcing him to cancel campaign trips and adding new volatility to a contest already steeped in tension.
Trump’s challenger, Democrat Joe Biden, is well ahead in the polls and has made criticism of the Republican’s handling of the coronavirus — and frequent downplaying of the pandemic’s seriousness — a key issue.
Trump, in response, has been betting on an evermore aggressive schedule of campaign rallies around the country. The events, which he says prove his true political strength, bring together thousands of people, often without masks and sometimes in contravention of local rules.
That strategy is now in doubt, with the White House immediately cancelling a planned campaign rally in the crucial swing state of Florida later Friday.
It looked certain that Trump would have to cancel a trip scheduled for this weekend in Wisconsin, another battleground. He had also been expected to travel frequently next week, including longer distances to western states.