US President Donald Trump said he has finally buckled under to pressure and taken a coronavirus test. He is awaiting the result.
He took the test on Friday night and will get the result after
48 hours.Trump had ignored calls in the past few days that he should take the
test, after mingling with several persons who later tested positive for the
virus.Amon them was Fabio Wajngarten, the Brazilian aide of President Joao
Bolsonaro. The aide tested positive on Thursday, while Bolsonaro said he was
all-clear.On Saturday, Trump was photographed at his Mar-a-Lago resort in
Florida standing shoulder to shoulder with the Brazilian official.
Fabio Wajngarten, right with Trump, 3rd right on Saturday in Florida
Trump had resisted taking the test and he had a solid support from the White
House.Press secretary Stephanie Grisham said there was no need for Trump or
Vice President Mike Pence to be tested. “Both the president and vice president
had almost no interactions with the individual who tested positive and do not
require being tested at this time,” Grisham said.Trump did not explain why he
changed his mind.
“I didn’t say I’m not going to be tested,” Trump said after one reporter asked
him if he was being “selfish” by not getting tested and continuing to interact
with members of his administration, including officials in charge of
controlling the pandemic.Trump was asked what his temperature was during the
press conference, in which he replied ‘it was totally normal.’ He added: ‘If it
wasn’t, I wouldn’t have been here.’Defying public health precautions, he spoke
to a large group of reporters in the Rose Garden and shook hands with numerous
staffers who joined him on the podium.“Shaking hands is not a great thing to be
doing now, I agree,” Trump said Saturday, but he said it was a hard habit to
break.Dr. Anthony Fauci, a key figure in the response to COVID-19, spoke to the
press from the lectern — repeatedly using his hand to adjust the height of the
microphone into which the president, who is at least six inches taller, had
just been speaking.The White House announced Saturday that it is now conducting
temperature checks on anyone who is in close contact with President Donald
Trump and Vice President Mike Pence.The move is being taken out of an abundance
of caution in response to the coronavirus outbreak, said Judd Deere, a White
House spokesman.