Seven people including US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump have tested COVID-19 positive after attending a formal event at the White House Rose Garden. Trump officially declared Amy Coney Barrett as his supreme court nominee at the packed event.
On Thursday, just hours after his closes aide Hope Hicks had tested positive for the fatal virus, Trump announced that he and the FLOTUS also tested positive too. In a tweet posted on his official account Trump wrote, "Tonight, @FLOTUS and I tested positive for COVID-19. We will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately. We will get through this TOGETHER!"
'Superspreader' Event Infects Top Brass with COVID-19
The Rose Garden event hit the spotlight after former Trump counselor Kellyanne Conway, an attendee at the event, announced that she has been tested positive for the virus. On Friday, Utah Sen. Mike Lee, another attendee at the event, revealed that he had tested positive for COVID-19 after having "symptoms consistent with longtime allergies."
Sen. Thom Tillis, Notre Dame President Rev. John Jenkins, and an unidentified White House journalist, have also tested positive for the fatal virus after attended the ceremony, reported Daily Beast.
Well, it's looking like the Amy Coney Barrett announcement in the Rose Garden was the COVID super spreader event.
— Minh Ngo (@minhtngo) October 2, 2020
Trump, Melania, Hope Hicks, Mike Lee, Rina McDaniel, Notre Dame President John Jenkins ... #WearAMask pic.twitter.com/CfM0xX0e31
Images and videos of the event that have emerged on the social media reveal social distancing norms being openly flouted by the attendees. Most of the guests at the event were seen without a face mask, mingling, shaking hands with each other in close proximity. Even the chairs for the guests were placed close to each other as against the mandatory six feet norm.
Rose Garden Trends on Twitter
A video of Conway having an extended, close conversation with Bill Barr at the Rose Garden event has generated over 1.1 million views on Twitter. The event has drawn widespread criticism on the microblogging site with users questioning why the health guidelines were flouted.
Kellyanne Conway just confirmed reports she has COVID-19.
— LeAHHHHHH!!! 😱 ðŸ³ï¸â€ðŸŒˆ (@leahmcelrath) October 3, 2020
Here is a video of her having an extended, close conversation with Bill Barr at the Rose Garden superspreader event last weekend:pic.twitter.com/s07mtfo8Rl
"So the super-spreader event appears to have been the Rose Garden announcement of RBG's replacement. Hell of a dissent," wrote a user.
A COVID-19 clusterfuck in the Rose Garden. So sad, so fitting, so infuriating. They are dumb, cynical and dangerous. And may their kind never return to the White House.
— David Plouffe (@davidplouffe) October 3, 2020
"It appears that a lot of people who attended Amy Coney Barrett's SCOTUS announcement event at the Rose Garden are positive. Trump held a super spreader event at the White House," wrote another user.
Whatever they think of the Trump administration, Americans should be outraged at the profound national security risks posed by lapses in White House COVID precautions and irresponsible events like the unmasked Rose Garden ceremony for ACB.
— Carl T. Bergstrom (@CT_Bergstrom) October 3, 2020
"Amy Coney Barratt's Rose Garden speech as super-spreader event is just hauntingly on-the-nose on about 15 different levels," mentioned other.
📌 Real question for enterprising journalists. Amy Coney Barrett apparently had Covid this summer. But she’s a lawyer. And could be very literal. So summer means anything up to September 22. Correct? That’s less than a week before the big super spreader event in Rose Garden. pic.twitter.com/p4JLq39gb0
— Jennifer Taub (@jentaub) October 3, 2020
"At the Rose Garden announcement of Amy Coney Barrett, neither she nor any member of her family was wearing a mask. Stunning negligence by White House and Trump," wrote another.
