Days After Trump Diagnosed With Covid, White House Staff Finally Given Instructions: ‘Do Not Come To Work’ If You Have Symptoms
Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images
Three days after the news broke that the coronavirus was sweeping through the White House, infecting President Donald Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, and a growing list of Trump campaign and White House staff, the White House Management Office finally sent out a message to their staff, with instructions regarding what to do and who to contact if they developed Covid-19 symptoms.
Maggie Haberman of the New York Times originally broke the story, tweeting that a source had informed her that the “first WH campus-wide staff note” since Trump had gotten sick had gone out on Sunday.
According to a source, the first WH campus-wide staff note went out tonight since POTUS got sick, reminding people who think they’re sick to stay home – and suggesting if people think they should be teleworking, to consult their supervisor.
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) October 5, 2020
New York Magazine‘s Washington correspondent Olivia Nuzzi later tweeted a copy of the email.
Three days after the public learned about President Trump’s COVID-19 infection and the viruses spread through the White House and federal government, WH staff finally received an email telling them what to do if they have symptoms. @NYMag obtained the note, sent by WH Management: pic.twitter.com/GvOBe3Cm5J
— Olivia Nuzzi (@Olivianuzzi) October 5, 2020
The screenshot of the email listed common Covid-19 symptoms and told staff, “please stay home and do not come to work until you are free of any symptoms” (emphasis in original). “Affected staff” were also instructed to contact their supervisors and primary care physicians, and information about teleworking and whom they should contact with questions was provided.
Nuzzi had reported just the day before about the growing frustration within the White House ranks as the virus was “spreading like wildfire” in their workplace, but no one was keeping them updated or offering any instructions.
“Ninety percent of the [White House] complex most certainly learned about it in the news, as has been the case ever since,” the senior official said. “There are reports that COVID is spreading like wildfire through the White House. There are hundreds and hundreds of people who work on-complex, some who have families with high-risk family members. Since this whole thing started, not one email has gone out to tell employees what to do or what’s going on.”
It’s the mark of a troubling trend, as key figures at the upper echelons of our government complain about having to learn about developments regarding the president’s health and new cases among top officials from the media, instead of receiving communications from the White House.
One notable example is Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), who is second in the presidential line of succession after Vice President Mike Pence. On Sunday, she complained that she had yet to be briefed on Trump’s condition since the news broke of his Covid-19 diagnosis.
“We’re getting our information the way everyone else is — in the media,” said Pelosi. She also criticized the information being released by Trump’s doctors as “not very scientific,” because it had to first be approved by the president.
Update: There is some dispute online whether this was the “first” email sent to White House staff, because there have been other messages sent during the pandemic with similar instructions regarding not coming to work if symptomatic, etc. but this does seem to be the first communiqué sent since Trump’s diagnosis.
It’s a) not the same email, it includes the possibility of teleworking for the first time but b) is the first campus-wide email to go out at all since POTUS got sick.
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) October 5, 2020
