President Trump won't comply with New Jersey quarantine order when he visits his golf club over the weekend.
President Trump will not comply with New Jersey's new quarantine order when he visits his golf club on Friday, despite recently visiting a coronavirus hot spot. “The president of the United States is not a civilian,” White House spokesman Judd Deere said when asked whether Trump would follow the quarantine order since he had traveled Tuesday to Arizona, which has seen a spike in COVID-19 cases.
“Anyone who is in close proximity to him, including staff, guests and press, are tested for COVID-19 and confirmed to be negative,” Deere said.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy issued a travelers advisory Wednesday, ordering that people coming from virus hot spots, including Arizona, must quarantine for 14 days.
That night, Murphy said Trump qualified as an "essential worker" and wouldn't be subject to the order.
“There is a carve out for essential workers and I think by any definition, the president of the United States is an essential worker,” Murphy told CNN. “And I know the folks get tested around him all the time. I’ve been tested a couple of times when I’ve been with him over the past couple of months.”
Trump is scheduled to spend the weekend at his private golf club in Bedminster.
The country saw its highest single-day increase on Wednesday since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic.
Three states — California, Florida and Oklahoma — reported record highs in new single-day coronavirus cases. Hospitalizations in Arizona hit a new high, and intensive care units were at near-capacity.
Trump made campaign appearances Tuesday in Arizona, and held a rally Saturday in Oklahoma, where nearly all of the attendees did not wear masks.
Six members of the president's staff tested positive in Oklahoma, just hours before the rally began. Two more staffers tested positive after the gathering.
On Thursday, The Washington Post reported that dozens of Secret Service officers and agents who were at the Tulsa rally had been ordered to self-quarantine after two colleagues tested positive for the virus
The Secret Service told employees who worked at the rally to stay home for 14 days, the paper said.
“To protect the privacy of our employees’ health information and for operational security, the Secret Service is not releasing how many of its employees have tested positive for COVID-19, nor how many of its employees were, or currently are, quarantined,” agency spokeswoman Catherine Milhoan said in a statement.
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