Week After Photo with Infected Man, Trump Announces He's Taken Coronavirus Test
President Donald Trump said Saturday he had been tested for the coronavirus and was awaiting the results.
Trump previously said he’d likely get tested, though the White House physician said Friday night that a test was not necessary.
Trump’s most recent remarks came during a news briefing at the White House.
“I also took the test last night,” the president told reporters.
President Trump just announced to reporters he took a coronavirus test Friday after the press conference. He said he did not yet know the results.
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) March 14, 2020
“I decided I should based on the press conference yesterday. People were asking ‘did I take the test,'” Trump added, referring to his remarks Friday in the Rose Garden.
Trump had told reporters during that media conference that he’d like get tested, but was not sure when.
“We’re working on a schedule,” he said, according to CNN.
Trump was asked by a reporter Saturday when he’d get his results back.
“I don’t know, whatever it takes — a day, or two days,” he said. “Whatever it is. They send it to a lab.”
He added that he took the test “only because the press” had focused on it so much.
President @realDonaldTrump confirms he took the coronavirus test and is awaiting results pic.twitter.com/ZlF3OoTOJX
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) March 14, 2020
Trump took the test roughly a week after he was photographed with Fabio Wajngarten, the communications secretary for Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.
Trump had met with the Brazilian leader at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida.
The guy standing to Trump’s left just tested positive for coronavirus, according to Brazilian media. Fabio Wajngarten posted this photo, taken during meetings at Mar-a-Lago, five days ago. pic.twitter.com/qioU4qIlxl
— Gabriel Stargardter (@gabstargardter) March 12, 2020
Earlier this week, Wajngarten tested positive for the coronavirus after returning to Brazil, according to The Washington Post.
On Thursday, Trump said he wasn’t worried.
“Let’s put it this way: I’m not concerned,” he said.
“We had dinner together in Florida in — at Mar-a-Lago, with the entire delegation,” Trump said. “I don’t know if the press aide was there. If he was there, he was there.”
On Friday night, Navy Cmdr. Sean Conley, who serves as White House physician, said Trump had come into contact at the dinner with two individuals who later tested positive for the virus.
JUST IN: White House puts out memo from Trump’s physician saying his exposure to two people who developed coronavirus doesn’t require self-quarantine or a test. pic.twitter.com/A0zIXM5gfL
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) March 14, 2020
“These interactions would be categorized as LOW risk for transmission per CDC guidelines, and as such, there is no indication for home quarantine at this time,” Conley wrote.
“Additionally, given the President himself remains without symptoms, testing for COVID-19 is not currently indicated. I will continue to closely monitor and care for the President, and will update you as more information becomes available.”
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