The White House is stepping up precautions to protect the president and vice president from contracting the new coronavirus.
Starting Friday, anyone who is expected to be in “close proximity” to either President Donald Trump or Vice President Mike Pence will be given a quick COVID-19 test “to evaluate for pre-symptomatic or asymptomatic carriers status to limit inadvertent transmission,” White House spokesman Judd Deere said.
All visitors to the White House complex already have their temperatures taken when entering the building and if they will be in close proximity to either Trump or Pence.
According to CNN, White House officials are declining to specify what counts as "close proximity." Said one official, the members of the White House press corps who participate in the daily briefings will not have to take tests.
The White House has been conducting temperature checks for those close to both leaders since March 14., CNN said.
Trump took the new COVID-19 test produced by Abbott Laboratories on Thursday and the White House doctor said results were back in 15 minutes. He tested negative with the test, which he'd displayed at a Rose Garden news conference earlier in the week.
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