White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany tests positive for virus, days after Trump diagnosis
WASHINGTON, DC — White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany tweeted Monday that she has tested positive for Covid-19, days after President Trump's diagnosis.
McEnany said she had consistently tested negative every day since Thursday, but the positive result came back on Monday morning. She said she was not experiencing any Covid-19 symptoms at this time and would begin the quarantine process.
McEnany said in a statement that she spoke briefly with reporters Sunday evening, but added that no members of the White House press corps spent enough time around her to be considered close contacts.
As McEnany approached reporters Sunday evening however, she removed her mask before taking three questions.
McEnany is the latest White House staffer to test positive for the virus, adding to questions about how widespread the West Wing outbreak will become. She continued to publicly shirk mask usage in the days since President Donald Trump and other staffers and outside advisers tested positive for the virus.
When the White House was doing contact tracing in the aftermath of top Trump adviser Hope Hicks' diagnosis, McEnany was told that she had been a close contact of Hicks, and was pulled off the President's fundraising trip to New Jersey. She wasn't told until later that afternoon that Hicks tested positive, reaffiriming in her statement Monday that she "definitively had no knowledge" of that prior to the briefing.
There is no indication that McEnany has spent any time at Walter Reed hospital since the president was transferred there Friday.
In addition to the President and first lady Melania Trump, there are several known positive cases of coronavirus at or near the White House, including Hicks, Trump body man Nick Luna, former White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien, Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, and Republican Sens. Thom Tillis, Mike Lee and Ron Johnson.
— Kayleigh McEnany (@PressSec) October 5, 2020
