Coronavirus: Ivanka Trump working from home, Donald Trump being tested
The White House has responded to worried claims surrounding Ivanka Trump after meeting with Peter Dutton days before he tested positive.
Ivanka Trump is working from home but won’t self-quarantine despite a meeting with Australian Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton days before he tested positive for coronavirus.
Mr Dutton recently returned from Washington DC where he met with his “Five Eyes” counterparts, an intelligence alliance comprising of Australia, the US, UK, Canada and New Zealand.
A picture uploaded to Twitter shows Mr Dutton smiling next to Ivanka and US Attorney-General William Barr, along with other members of the Five Eyes.
Yesterday afternoon Mr Dutton confirmed he had tested positive for the virus, after waking up with a sore throat and temperature. He’s since confirmed that he’s “feeling much better this morning”.
But the White House has released a statement saying the President’s daughter is showing no signs of the virus.
“The White House is aware that Mr Dutton tested positive for COVID-19. He was asymptomatic during the interaction,” the statement said.
“Exposures from the case were assessed and the White House Medical Unit confirmed, in accordance with CDC guidance, that Ivanka is exhibiting no symptoms and does not need to self-quarantine. She worked from home today out of an abundance of caution until guidance was given.”
In the hours since he was tested, Minister Peter Dutton has provided an update on his health today.
“I’m feeling much better this morning – thank you to everyone for your well wishes,” Mr Dutton wrote in a post on Twitter.
“QLD Health has been amazing and their advice to me is they are only concerned about contacts I had from 11/3. Nothing before that. This is a time for everyone to pull together as the PM & Premiers did yesterday – not a time for making poorly informed cheap political statements.”
Mr Dutton told 2GB, from the Royal Brisbane Hospital, that both his fever and temperature had gone down.
Qld Health has been amazing and their advice to me is they are only concerned about contacts I had from 11/3. Nothing before that. This is a time for everyone to pull together as the PM & Premiers did yesterday- not a time for making poorly informed cheap political statements.
— Peter Dutton (@PeterDutton_MP) March 14, 2020
TRUMP BEING TESTED FOR THE VIRUS
Donald Trump has announced he will be tested for coronavirus after standing shoulder-to-shoulder with an infected person.
Speaking to reporters in the White House rose garden on Friday, Mr Trump said he had not shown any symptoms of the virus but would “most likely” undergo tests - but didn’t put a time frame on it, except to say he would do it “fairly soon”.
“I didn’t say I wasn’t going to be tested,” he said, in response to a question about whether or not he was being selfish for not having yet done so.
It comes after Brazilian Communications Secretary Fabio Wajngarten, who was among a delegation of Brazilian government officials who met with Mr Trump at Mar-a-Lago on Saturday, was confirmed on Thursday to have contracted COVID-19.
During the three-day trip, Mr Wajngarten posted a photo of himself wearing a “Make Brazil Great Again” cap while standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Mr Trump, who was holding a similar hat. A video from the event also showed him standing directly behind both presidents as they addressed a crowd.
As news of Mr Wajngarten’s condition emerged, it sparked speculation that the US and Brazilian presidents may have also caught the virus.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro – who has been dubbed a “Tropical Trump” – was also present during the visit, sitting next to Mr Trump for a two-hour dinner, and has since been tested for the virus.
A newspaper in Brazil today reported that Mr Bolsonaro - who recently described the pandemic as a “fantasy” - had tested positive, “based on sources with first-hand knowledge inside the presidential palace” just days after an official visit to the US.
“He waits for the result of the counter-proof this Friday (13) to confirm the contamination” according to a translation in the local news outlet Jornal Odia.
“There is tension in the air. Despite spending quiet time on TV, and asking the people to avoid the streets (a clear cancellation of the call for Sunday’s pro-government demonstrations), Bolsonaro does not hide the evidence.
“He appeared in a mask this morning and did not leave the Palácio da Alvorada, the official residence.”
On Friday, Mr Trump said his Brazilian counterpart had tested negative for the virus earlier in the day.
RELATED: Follow the latest on coronavirus here
Major Rio de Janeiro newspaper reporting that president Jair Bolsonaro’s first test has come back positive for coronavirus https://t.co/f7yTVDtwDG
— Tom Phillips (@tomphillipsin) March 13, 2020
The White House said earlier in the week that Mr Trump was in “excellent health” after shaking hands with a congressman exposed to the virus.
Earlier, Mr Trump said he was “not concerned” about his direct encounter with Mr Wajngarten.
“I did hear something about that,” he said.
“We had dinner together in Florida, in Mar-a-Lago, with the entire delegation.
“I don’t know if the press aide was there. If he was there, he was there. But we did nothing very unusual.
“Let me put it this way, I’m not concerned.”
Amid POTUS exposure to a person who tested positive for Covid-19, Mar-a-Lago has sent guidance to members: "They sent out an email saying they’re washing the place down a couple of times a day," one of them tells me. (Doggie fashion show scheduled for Sat. is postponed, though.)
— Katie Rogers (@katierogers) March 13, 2020
White House spokesperson Stephanie Grisham released a statement in response to initial reports of Mr Wajingarten’s condition.
“The White House is aware of public reports that a member of the Brazilian delegation’s visit to Mar-a-Lago last weekend tested positive for COVID-19; confirmatory testing is pending.”
“Exposures from the case are being assessed, which will dictate next steps. 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.”
Mr Wajngarten reportedly came down with flu-like symptoms after returning to Brazil and was taken to a military hospital to be tested for the virus.
According to Brazilian media outlets, several senior officials who were in the delegation with Mr Wajngarten – are being monitored for symptoms.
RELATED: What Australians need to know about coronavirus
The Brazilian president’s office “has taken and is taking all necessary preventive measures to protect the health of the president and all staff that travelled with him to the United States,” it said in a statement on Thursday.
“This is because one of the officials in the group, Presidential Communications Secretary Fabio Wajngarten, is infected with the new coronavirus, COVID-19, as confirmed by a second test that was recently carried out.”
Mr Wajngarten initially denied a report on Wednesday that he had been tested for the virus, saying on his social media account that his health was fine. He is now in self-quarantine at home, according to the Brazilian government.
Enjoyable and productive dinner with â¦@realDonaldTrumpâ© and the President of Brazil â¦@jairbolsonaro⩠🇺🇸🇧🇷 pic.twitter.com/rHhVcyzS1J
— Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) March 8, 2020
🇧🇷ðŸ¤ðŸ‡ºðŸ‡¸ President @JairBolsonaro will arrive in the U.S. tomorrow for a visit to the state of Florida, where he'll meet with President @realDonaldTrump. Brazil is the leading foreign investor in Florida.
— Embassy of Brazil in the USA 🇧🇷 (@BrazilinUSA) March 6, 2020
(📸Photo: Presidents of Brazil & U.S. meet on March 2019 at the White House) pic.twitter.com/2rsmu3m3eX
Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, both presidential aides were also at the dinner on Saturday. The following day Mr Bolsonaro and his delegation visited the headquarters of the US military’s Southern Command in Doral, also in the sunshine state, where the Brazilian president met with the commander, Admiral Craig Faller, the New York Times reports.
On Tuesday, Mr Bolsonaro tried to downplay the worldwide health threat of the virus during a visit to Miami, Florida.
“During the past year, obviously, we have had moments of crisis. A lot of that is fantasy. And coronavirus, which is not (what) all the mainstream media makes it out to be,” he said.
megan.palin@news.com.au | @Megan_Palin
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