By going to fundraising, Trump may have endangered his lifeExBulletin

President Donald Trump will board Marine One on October 1st to go to the Trump National Golf Club fundraiser in Bedminster, NJ.

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Evan Vucci / AP

President Donald Trump will board Marine One on October 1st to go to the Trump National Golf Club fundraiser in Bedminster, NJ.

Evan Vucci / AP

When a Marine One helicopter was about to take off last Thursday, White House officials were informed that top adviser Hope Hicks had tested positive for the coronavirus.

It urged a harsh call to the White House operation: who of President Trump’s aides would still be allowed to go to the Trump National Golf Club campaign fundraiser in Bedminster, NJ?

Some people were separated from the trip — but Trump wasn’t.

It was the first of several ways Trump and his campaign endangered his supporters, says epidemiologist Lisa Lee. Although the coronavirus protocol was implemented in fundraising activities, public health experts say these measures were full of holes and aimed at protecting the president rather than donors and staff.

“The first step in all of this is to actually quarantine immediately after discovering that you’ve been exposed,” said Lee, a former top scientist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Virginia Tech’s Vice President of Research and Innovation. It was. ” Technology.

Instead, President Trump spent hours raising money with more than 200 supporters. He had just traveled with Hicks At Air Force One to Minnesota for the previous day’s rally, and to Ohio for the previous day’s presidential debate.

Dozens of guests mingled indoors without masks (some for most of the hour) and the campaign relied heavily on screening guests for quick testing, which is always credible. It is not always possible.

When asked about Trump’s trip that day, White House communications director Alyssa Farah said it was “a decision made by White House’s operations because he was not considered a threat.” I did.

New Jersey public health officials have not reported positive tests among fundraising guests, but warn that the incubation period is up to two weeks.

Meanwhile, President Trump says He is ready to follow the path of the campaign again, And his doctor gave him a green light from Saturday. For Vice President Joe Biden, we are hosting small campaign events and virtual fundraising activities where people are required to wear masks and are forced into strict social distances.

Trump’s Bed Minister fundraiser, which raised over $ 5 million, had three separate parts, with different precautions taken depending on how close the attendees were to the president.

Golfers will play at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, NJ on Friday, October 2, 2020. The day after President Donald Trump raised money at the club and later tested positive for the coronavirus.

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Sethwenig / AP

Trump supporter Charlie Korean of Texas participated in a fundraising campaign and posted a video on social media. He said it started with a drink.

“Photos only: it was a standard cocktail party. There was a bar, a high top table,” Kolean said in one video.

This is where Korean took a picture with the president. He then said that neither of them wore masks, but the overall interaction took only one minute.

“You couldn’t wave his hand and you stood six feet away from him when the picture was taken,” Korean said. “All attendees were checked for coronavirus before entering the clubhouse. Therefore, they were not wearing masks and the president was not wearing masks.”

According to the campaign, everyone was at least 6 feet away from the president. CDC recommends keeping a social distance.. But Lee says those guidelines are exactly that — guidelines.

“We really want to be careful to think that 6 feet is magical,” she said.

And Lee says it’s awkward to allow guests to mix it indoors without a mask just because they passed the quick inspection. These tests have a high rate of false negatives.

“There is no perfect test,” she said. “And that test, like all the other incomplete tests we did, may have missed some infections.”

Even more troublesome, according to Lee, was the second part of the fundraising campaign when really big donors gathered in another room in the clubhouse and sought a more personal audience with the president. Rich Roberts, a major Republican donor in New Jersey, explained the scene to the local press.

“We met him for about 45 minutes to an hour,” Roberts said. Video released by Lakewood Scoop.. “There were 19 of us, and we were at a table set up to make a rectangular formation. Here was President Trump, and I’m on one seat directly opposite him. did.”

Roberts later revealed that he was sitting 10 feet away from the president, but also said they were not wearing masks. And epidemiologist Lee points out that infected particles can be recirculated in a closed room.

“If I were that person or one of them, I would definitely go into quarantine,” she said.

Both Roberts and Korean say they are quarantining at home.

The third part of the fundraising activity was held outdoors in the club’s courtyard. Here, guests only had to undergo a temperature check and fill out a “Wellness Questionnaire”. Republican Rick Mefta, who is running for the US Senator from New Jersey, said many attendees also wore masks.

“Precautionary measures have been taken,” Mehta said. “People were sitting, eating and having a very casual conversation. We had a good time.”

Public health experts say the risk of outdoor events is low, but warn that up to 40% of people infected with COVID-19 are asymptomatic. Therefore, they may have been unflagged by the screening process and unknowingly spread the virus among them.

After talking for about an hour in New Jersey, President Trump returned to Washington. A few hours later, Trump tweeted that Hicks was “just positive,” even though the White House knew before the president left for Bedminster. Shortly thereafter, Trump tweeted that he was positive on the test.

Lisa Lee says that this kind of behavior is problematic no matter who you are.

“People who are deliberately exposed and do not participate in the quarantine have no idea how and what life they could endanger,” she said.