President Trump, wearing a “USA” baseball cap, held a news conference on Saturday in which announced that he had been tested for the coronavirus on Friday night, after which Vice President Mike Pence announced that the administration was extending its European travel ban to the United Kingdom and Ireland.
According to New York Times, whether the president would be tested had been a matter of speculation since it first emerged that a member of a Brazilian delegation that visited Mar-a-Lago had tested positive. Two other people who were with the president at Mar-a-Lago have tested positive, and various members of Congress have been self-isolating after interacting with some of the same people.
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Mr. Trump said he decided to be tested for the coronavirus after Friday’s news conference.
“People were asking, did I take the test,” he said.
Asked when he expected to have the result, Mr. Trump said, “A day, two days.”
“They send it to a lab,” he said.
The White House has begun checking the temperatures of anyone in close contact with Mr. Trump or Mr. Pence. White House staff checked the temperatures of everyone arriving at the news conference.
Reporters pressed Mr. Trump about “mixed messages,” asking about why he shook hands with a row of chief executives who attended his news conference on Friday where he announced a national emergency.
“It almost becomes a habit and you get out of that habit,” he said, noting that “getting away from shaking hands is a good thing.”
New York Times
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