Trump’s debate guests refused to wear masks, flouting rules
A little more than two days before she reported testing positive for the coronavirus, first lady Melania Trump – as well as the president’s sons, daughters and several guests – violated safety protocols at the first presidential debate by taking off their masks after being seated in a live studio audience in Cleveland.
Several in the president’s entourage continued without masks after an official from the Cleveland Clinic, which co-hosted the debate, offered them masks in case they didn’t have any, according to debate moderator Chris Wallace. “They waved them away,” Wallace said on Fox News on Friday morning.
It was a violation of rules that both campaigns agreed to, Frank Fahrenkopf, head of the Commission on Presidential Debates, said in an interview with The Washington Post.
“The first family came in wearing masks, but they took them off. The rules said you had to wear a mask,” Fahrenkopf said. “Everyone in that hall was supposed to keep the mask on, other than the president, Biden and Chris Wallace.” [Continue reading…]
Alex M. Azar II, the secretary of health and human services, defended members of President Trump’s family on Friday for refusing to wear masks at the recent presidential debate despite a requirement that the audience do so. The first family and the president are “in a different situation than the rest of us,” Mr. Azar said, because they are in a protective bubble. [Continue reading…]
For months, the White House’s strategy for keeping President Trump and his inner circle safe has been to screen all White House visitors with a rapid test.
But one product they use, Abbott’s ID Now, was never intended for that purpose and is known to deliver incorrect results. In issuing an emergency use authorization, the Food and Drug Administration said the test was only to be used by a health care provider “within the first seven days of symptoms.”
The ID Now has several qualities in its favor: It’s portable, doesn’t need skilled technicians to operate and delivers results in 15 minutes. Used to evaluate someone with symptoms, the test can quickly and easily diagnose Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.
But in people who are infected but not yet showing symptoms, the test is much less accurate, missing as many as one in three cases. [Continue reading…]