11 employees of the US Secret Service, providing security for the American president and vice president, were infected with the coronavirus, and another 60 were quarantined, according to Newsweek. Whether it is about ordinary employees or agents working in the immediate vicinity of the country’s leadership is unknown, the newspaper notes. As the magazine emphasizes, this information was disclosed amid other reports of Covid-19 infection by Trump and Pence close associates.
About a dozen employees of the US Secret Service, providing protection for the president, vice president and their families, were infected with a coronavirus, Newsweek reports. According to the publication, several dozen more people were placed in self-isolation.
As the magazine recalls, in March, the agency confirmed that one of the service’s employees was infected with Covid-19, however, according to documents from the Department of Homeland Security, which were accessed by a number of US media, the virus actually spread much wider: 11 service employees are getting sick right now, 23 recovered, and another 60 are on self-isolation.
According to the publication, 3 thousand out of 7.6 thousand Secret Service agents are in close contact with their clients. However, information about the number of infected people, their proximity to the political leadership of the United States and the whereabouts of patients is not disclosed.
“In order to protect information about the health of our employees and operational safety, the Secret Service does not disclose the number of employees who have been tested positive for Covid-19, as well as the number of employees quarantined,” Justin Whelan, an official from the agency, said in an official statement. . According to him, from the very beginning of the pandemic, the service worked together with other public security services to protect both its employees and protected persons.
According to the magazine, the disclosure of this information occurred against the background of reports of the penetration of the virus into the inner circle of the White House. On Friday, a positive test for coronavirus was detected by spokeswoman for vice president Mike Pence and wife of White House adviser Stephen Miller Katie Miller. A day earlier, the White House announced that Trump’s personal valet, who was in close contact with the president, had also become infected with the coronavirus.
At the same time, as reported in the article, neither Trump nor the pence, regularly tested for Covid-19, was detected. The president continues to attend meetings and events without a medical mask, but said he will now be tested daily.
Although, according to the White House’s spokeswoman, Judd Deer, all those working next to the president are being tested for coronavirus, and everyone entering the White House is taking temperature, according to American media, last week journalists were allowed into the Oval Office without masks on the face and analysis.