A total of 13 people who are part of the current administration, including President Donald Trump, have tested positive for COVID-19.
Monday, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany revealed that she is battling the coronavirus.
Multiple reporters quickly slammed McEnany for being reckless for not taking part in a self-quarantine after being around other staff members who had contracted the virus.
McEnany, who was aware of the backlash, defended herself by declaring herself an essential worker in her statement.
McEnany said: “After testing negative consistently, including every day since Thursday, I tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday morning while experiencing no symptoms. No reporters, producers, or members of the press are listed as close contacts by the White House Medical Unit.”
She went on to reveal: “As an essential worker, I have worked diligently to provide needed information to the American people at this time. With my recent positive test, I will begin the quarantine process and will continue working on behalf of the American people remotely.”
Kayleigh McEnany tested positive for #Covid19.
She was speaking TODAY with no mask to reporters. These people are demented.
— Frederick Joseph (@FredTJoseph) October 5, 2020
McEnany was bashed for having maskless briefings and putting the lives of reporters in danger by exposing them to the highly contagious virus.
MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski were stunned by the news and rapidly criticized McEnany for her behavior.
A flabbergasted Scarborough said: “Good lord. Are you kidding me? Wait. She knew before that press conference where she didn’t wear a mask, in front of all of those reporters, and had heated exchanges with Fox News reporters?”
Brzezinski added: “Oh my god. Stop right there.”
CNN White House Correspondent Kaitlan Collins publicly slammed McEnany by saying: “While we obviously wish Kayleigh McEnany well and that she has a speedy recovery from coronavirus, this is a sign of how the White House thinks that the rules do not apply to them. Kayleigh McEnany was told on Thursday that Hope Hicks had tested positive and that she was someone who was considered to have direct contact with Hope Hicks. However, she did not quarantine as is recommended if you have come into sustained contact with someone who’s tested positive, and instead, she relied on negative tests that she took every single day and continued to come to work.”
Collins lashed out at McEnany because she “gaggled with reporters very briefly probably for about two minutes, but still once again taking her mask off as she was approaching the microphone.”
Collins added: “And it shows this level of recklessness inside the White House where she is relying on having these negative tests, as you’ve seen several other officials as well, despite the fact that she did come into contact with someone that we now know is positive. So it just goes to show how the White House had responded to this when everyone else if you had come into contact with someone who had tested positive and you were told you were in direct contact, you would go in quarantine.”
LAST NIGHT: McEnany gaggled with reporters without a mask.
White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany speaks to members of the media at the White House in Washington, U.S. October 4, 2020. REUTERS/Erin Scott pic.twitter.com/Qwiza3HCuB
— Kathryn Watson (@kathrynw5) October 5, 2020
She concluded by: “It’s not just raising concerns about how we’re seeing how prolific this outbreak is in the West Wing and in the president’s inner circle but also how they’re responding to it and how they are not doing what medical experts advised. Instead of quarantining like they were told to do or like they were advised to do by the CDC guidelines, they instead believe that a negative test grants them immunity from coronavirus, and what we are seeing with Kayleigh McEnany testing positive shows that it doesn’t.
CNN anchor John King added: “It is as you put it, it’s reckless behavior.”
President Trump is expected to leave Walter Reed campus tonight.
