The White House COVID-19 outbreak was a cluster of SARS-CoV-2 infections that began in September 2020 and ended in January 2021 that spread among people, including many U.S. government officials, who were in close contact during the COVID-19 pandemic in Washington, D.C. Numerous high-profile individuals were infected, including President Donald Trump, who was hospitalized for three days. At least 48 White House staff members or associates, closely working with White House personnel, tested positive for the virus. The White House resisted efforts to engage in contact tracing, leaving it unclear how many people were infected in total and what the origins of the spread were.
Many of the infections appeared to be related to a ceremony held on September 26 in the Rose Garden for the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, where seating was not socially distanced and participants were mostly unmasked. His chief of staff recalled that Trump looked "a little tired" and was suspected of having a "slight cold".
Hours after the ceremony, Trump tested positive for COVID-19, although the public would not learn of this result until one year later, in October 2021. Trump himself may have been infectious at that point, but he and his entourage attended several subsequent events unmasked, including the first presidential debate against Joe Biden in Cleveland, Ohio on September 29. The next day, Presidential Counselor Hope Hicks was placed in quarantine aboard Air Force One while returning with Trump from a campaign event in Minnesota. Following that, the president proceeded on schedule to an October1 New Jersey fundraiser where he mingled, unmasked, with donors. More infections were reported in late October among Vice President Mike Pence's staff, and a second large outbreak occurred after Election Day, after Trump held a watch party in the East Room.
Other infections included First Lady Melania Trump; Republican Senators Thom Tillis, Mike Lee, and Ron Johnson; Republican Representative Matt Gaetz; Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien; RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel; former White House counselor Kellyanne Conway; former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie; Notre Dame president John I. Jenkins; Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany; presidential advisor Stephen Miller; Chief of Staff Mark Meadows; and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson. As of November 11, at least 48 people had tested positive. At least one person, White House security office head Crede Bailey, was reported as "gravely ill," having fallen sick in September prior to the Rose Garden event.
The Rose Garden cluster emerged in the final weeks of Trump's campaign for the 2020 presidential election, a little more than a month before the last day of voting, November3. Commentators were critical of the White House for providing conflicting information about Trump's condition and the timeline of his infection, as well as delaying the disclosure of the initial diagnoses of White House staffers. According to public health experts such as Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, the outbreak could have been prevented.
Timeline of viral transmission Background
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Donald Trump and William Barr discouraged officials and staff from wearing masks. Those in the West Wing who did use them often faced ridicule from others. In April, the White House became one of the first locations to gain access to rapid-turnaround COVID-19 tests. The White House relied upon rapid-tests which lacked FDA-approval for use in asymptomatic individuals.
Throughout the spring, there had been sporadic cases of COVID-19 reported at the White House. On March 20, it was announced that a staffer for Vice President Mike Pence had tested positive and was experiencing very mild symptoms, though neither Trump nor Pence had been in close contact with the staffer. On May 7, an unnamed personal valet to the president tested positive, and the following day, Pence spokesperson Katie Miller tested positive for COVID-19. Miller's positive test result caused several other Pence staffers who were in close contact with her to be removed from Air Force Two before Pence's trip to Iowa, but neither Trump nor Pence had been in recent close contact with Miller.
In June, the White House scaled back the screening regime, but still required screening and testing for anyone coming into contact with the president or vice president.
Campaign events, Crede Bailey diagnosed
A Stanford preprint study concluded that likely over 30,000 cases and 700 deaths could be attributed to Trump rallies held between June 20 and September 22. On June 20, Trump held a campaign rally in Tulsa, the first since the start of the pandemic. Attendees who tested positive include two Secret Service agents, two staffers, the girlfriend of the President's eldest son, Kimberly Guilfoyle and politician Herman Cain. Cain died from the disease on July 30. Tulsa experienced a significant increase in cases after the rally.
From August 17–20, Trump held rallies at Mankato, Minnesota and Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania. About 500 attended Mankato, and masks and social distancing were not used. Several hundred attended the event in Lackawanna, masks were mostly used but social distancing was not. Both communities experienced surges of COVID-19 in the wake of the rallies.
Over Labor Day Weekend (Sept 5–7), Crede Bailey, the head of the White House security office, became sick with COVID-19. He was hospitalized sometime in September, becoming gravely ill. The White House kept his condition secret and declined to comment when his condition was reported in the news on October 7.
On September 13, Trump held a 5,000 person rally in Henderson, Nevada, violating of the state's ban on gatherings larger than 50 people and resulting in a fine. One case was later traced to "a political rally".
On September 16, it was reported that at least one unnamed staffer had tested positive. After Trump's hospitalization, it was revealed that two members of the residence staff had tested positive that week. On September 17, Trump held a rally at an airport in Mosinee, Wisconsin; Thousands attended, few masks were worn and social distancing was not observed. The county experienced a surge in COVID-19.
Trump held a rally in Bemidji, Minnesota on September 18. Thousands attended in violation of the Minnesota ban on gatherings of more than 250, few attendees wore face masks, and there was no social distancing. 16 cases were linked to the rally, including two who were hospitalized. The county saw a spike of COVID-19 after the rally. On September 24, Mike Pence and Ivanka Trump held an event at a Minneapolis hotel. Three attendees would later test positive.
Trump campaign fundraiser, September 25 Trump met Republican National Committee chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, McEnany, and others at a September 25 fundraiser at the Trump International Hotel. On October 1, McDaniel appeared on Fox News and made no mention of her health, despite receiving confirmation of her positive test result on the afternoon of September 30. Two days later, an RNC spokesperson announced that McDaniel had tested positive.
Amy Coney Barrett nomination events, September 26
On September 26, 2020, an event was held in the White House Rose Garden announcing Amy Coney Barrett's nomination to the Supreme Court following the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. More than 150 people attended; they were told they did not need to wear masks if they had tested negative that day. Chairs for the outdoor ceremony were placed side by side, and there were two crowded indoor receptions. At least seven attendees tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 in the following week, including President Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, Senators Mike Lee and Thom Tillis, University of Notre Dame president John I. Jenkins, former Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway, and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. Barrett had suffered infection in the summer before recovering and testing negative. Michael D. Shear, a White House correspondent for The New York Times, first tested positive for the virus October2, as did many others. He was not present at the Rose Garden event, but had visited the White House on September 27 for a COVID-19 test, required before traveling with the President to a rally in Pennsylvania.
Kellyanne Conway's daughter Claudia revealed on social media on the evening of October2 that her mother had tested positive for COVID-19. The same day, Senators Lee and Tillis were revealed to have tested positive. Christie confirmed on October3 that he had tested positive for COVID-19. Christie had been present at debate preparation for Trump as well as the nomination ceremony for Barrett. Later that day, Christie announced he was hospitalized after his condition worsened; Christie received an experimental antibody cocktail from Eli Lilly as well as remdesivir. Lee was filmed hugging other attendees while not wearing a mask. Five of the infected were seated in the front three rows at the event, in close contact with Republican senior officials. Christie was released from the Morristown Medical Center in New Jersey on October 10. Jenkins later issued a statement saying: "I regret my error of judgment in not wearing a mask during the ceremony and by shaking hands with a number of people in the Rose Garden."
Infectious disease physician Robert L. Murphy said that if the infections are traced to the Rose Garden ceremony, they may have been started by a superspreader (a highly contagious person), and that they could have been avoided if face masks were worn and social distancing was practiced. He said, "Whoever got this thing going is a superspreader". The outdoor portion of the event was less likely to be a super-spreader event than the indoor portion. At least 10 members of the Notre Dame faculty besides Jenkins attended the event, but as of October7, none had tested positive. On November 10, it was announced that one attendee, Harry R. Jackson Jr., had died; no cause of death was given.
The White House did not do contact tracing to minimize the spread of the outbreak, limiting any effort to notify those who have been exposed to Trump. The Centers for Disease Control made several offers to assist the White House with contact tracing, but they were repeatedly declined. On October 6, the White House announced that it had completed contact tracing, but several reporters who had tested positive for the virus said the White House had not reached out to them.
Trump tests positive, September 26
Hours after the ceremony, Trump tested positive for COVID-19, although the public would not learn of this result until late 2021. His chief of staff recalled that Trump looked "a little tired" and was suspected of having a "slight cold".
Despite testing positive, Trump traveled in Air Force One to a rally at the Harrisburg International Airport in Pennsylvania, which was attended by thousands. The governor opposed the rally, arguing: "It is gravely concerning that the president would insist on holding this event with blatant disregard for social distancing and masking requirements. His decision to bring thousands of people together in a tight space in the midst of a global pandemic caused by an airborne virus is flat out wrong." After Trump's diagnosis was made public, Pennsylvania health officials advised attendees to participate in the state's contact tracing program. In the wake of the rally, the county saw a surge in COVID-19.
Gold Star families reception, September 27
Trump hosted Gold Star families and Pentagon leaders in the East Room of the White House. Attendees were photographed seated in close proximity and not wearing masks. Defense Secretary Mark Esper and General Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, attended the event.