COVID CRISIS
WHITE House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows tested positive for coronavirus on Friday — a day that saw a record 129,000 Americans contract the disease.
Meadows informed advisers close to him after Election Day that he has coronavirus, people with knowledge on the matter told Bloomberg on Friday night.
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It was not immediately known what if any symptoms Meadows developed, or when he found out he was infected.
Meadows spent part of Election Day with President Donald Trump and several other White House and Republican figures, sparking fears of another another coronavirus outbreak within the administration.
Administration officials made an effort to keep Meadows' diagnosis under wraps and people close to him were told to stay hushed, sources told Bloomberg.
Besides Meadows, at least five other Trump aides are infected with Covid-19, including Nick Trainer and Cassidy Hutchinson.
"Pains were taken to keep Meadows’ illness a secret," a Sr White House reporter for Bloomberg News was told.
"And people around him who knew were told to keep quiet," Jennifer Jacobs tweeted Saturday morning.
The remaining positive tests derived from unidentified staffers, according to ABC News.
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News of Meadows testing positive for the virus comes three days after the election that has Trump trailing Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden in electoral votes.
Despite the numbers, Trump has continued to claim he will be victorious.
Meadows has played a part in Trump’s push to challenge ballot counting processes in a handful of crucial states that are leaning toward Biden, a source told Bloomberg.
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The chief of staff was at Trump’s side when he caught Covid-19 last month and received treatment at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
Trump reportedly tested positive for coronavirus before announcing it publicly.
Meadows is the latest of several dozen people at the White House who have tested positive for the virus, including First Lady Melania Trump and Vice President Mike Pence’s Chief of Staff Marc Short.
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On Friday, the US reported at least 129,000 new Covid-19 cases—a record for daily infections for the third day in a row, according to The New York Times.
The country hit a record of more than 107,000 new infections on Wednesday, followed by more than 121,000 new cases on Thursday.
Friday also saw at least 1,211 deaths, marking the first time since late August that more than 1,000 deaths were recorded in a four-day time frame.
Trump admits exposing Mark Meadows to Covid after testing positive – and Chief of Staff later refused to wear mask