More Anxiety For White House Reporters

A member of the cleaning staff sprays The James Brady Briefing Room (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

President Donald Trump’s return to the White House to recover from the coronavirus seems certain to raise the already heightened anxiety level of the journalists assigned to follow him, reports The Associated Press.

Three reporters have tested positive for COVID-19 in recent days while covering a White House described as lax, at best, in following basic safety advice like wearing masks. Discomfort only increased Monday with news that press secretary Kayleigh McEnany had tested positive.

Journalists are left to wonder if a still-contagious president will gather them for a public appearance and how their safety will be ensured.

After McEnany’s announcement Monday, Fox News chief White House correspondent John Roberts spent part of his afternoon waiting outside an urgent care center for his own test. He had attended McEnany’s briefing last Thursday. She didn’t wear a mask, and neither did one of her assistants who later tested positive, and Roberts sat near both of them. He tested negative.

He called it an inconvenience, but stronger emotions were spreading. American Urban Radio Networks correspondent April Ryan said she found it infuriating that Trump and his team had risked the health of her colleagues. CNN’s Kaitlan Collins said it was “irresponsible, at best.”

Trump takes the health and safety of those who work for and cover him very seriously, spokesman Judd Deere said. The White House works to incorporate current CDC guidance and best practices to limit COVID-19 exposure to the greatest extent possible on the grounds and when the president is traveling, he said.

The White House Correspondents Association has placed signs on the door to the press briefing room saying that masks are required for admittance.

“The only people who have habitually not followed that rule have been that White House staff,” Karl said.

When asked why, staffers generally say they don’t wear a mask because they tested negative that day, said CBS News correspondent Weijia Jiang. But doctors have made clear that a negative test doesn’t mean you don’t have COVID-19 or aren’t contagious, “so it seems like covering their face is a simple way to protect people,” she said.

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— Tom Benson (@Tombenson1) October 6, 2020

The 13-member press pool, with a rotating cast of electronic and print journalists, is responsible for following the president when he leaves the White House; the WHCA objected Sunday when the pool wasn’t alerted to Trump’s drive-by of supporters outside his hospital.