Report: Secret Service Discovers Nearly a Dozen Coronavirus Cases in Its Own Ranks
Eleven members of the Secret Service have tested positive for COVID-19, according a new report.
Yahoo News reported Friday it has seen Department of Homeland Security documents which show that 11 individuals currently have the virus and that 23 members of the Secret Service have recovered from the disease.
Another 60 employees of the agency are in self-quarantine, according to the report.
The documents did not provide any details regarding whether the infected individuals have been assigned to protect either President Donald Trump or Vice President Mike Pence.
The Secret Service is keeping any details about the assignments of the infected individuals secret.
“To protect the privacy of our employee’s health information and for operational security, the Secret Service is not releasing how many of its employees have tested positive for COVID-19, nor how many of its employees were, or currently are, quarantined,” Secret Service spokeswoman Justine Whelan told Yahoo.
“Since the beginning of this pandemic, the Secret Service has been working with all of our public safety partners and the White House Medical Unit to ensure the safety and security of both our protected persons and our employees,” Whelan added.
“The Secret Service continues to follow guidance issued by the CDC to ensure the health and welfare of our employees and those they come in contact with.”
In addition to its high-profile protective duties, the Secret Service also is responsible for investigations into “financial crimes, which include counterfeiting of U.S. currency or other U.S. Government obligations; forgery or theft of U.S. Treasury checks, bonds or other securities; credit card fraud; telecommunications fraud; computer fraud, identify fraud and certain other crimes affecting federally insured financial institutions,” according to its website.
Yahoo News reported that Secret Service employees who work in and around the White House are among those who have been observed not wearing masks.
White House deputy press secretary Judd Deere has addressed issues regarding the steps being taken to protect the president and vice president from the disease.
“Those in close proximity to the president and vice president are being tested for COVID-19,” he said last week.
“Temperature checks are occurring for all those entering the complex as well as an additional temperature check for those in close proximity to the president and vice president,” Deere said.
The presence of the disease within the inner ranks of White House staff was revealed earlier this week.
On Friday, the White House announced that Katie Miller, who is Pence’s press secretary and the wife Trump adviser Stephen Miller, has tested positive for the virus.
On Thursday came news that a personal valet of Trump’s had tested positive for the virus.
Trump, however, has pooh-poohed wearing a mask himself, according to The Hill.
“I’m not worried. But you know, look, I get things done. I don’t worry about things. I do what I have to do,” he said. “We’ve taken very strong precautions at the White House. But again, we’re dealing with an invisible situation. Nobody knows.”
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
