WHITE HOUSE EVENT LIKELY EXPOSED THOUSANDS TO COVID-19 VIRUS

President Donald Trump and other White House insiders infected with COVID-19 carried the virus across the country in a matter of days, potentially exposing hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people as they went about their business, a USA TODAY investigation found.

From a religious summit outside Atlanta to a campaign rally at a Pennsylvania airport and a private fundraiser in Minnesota, Trump, Trump’s aides and political allies attended events with thousands of people, often without masks and little regard for social distancing, Josh Salman and Dinah Voyles Pulver wrote for USA TODAY.

Trump, first lady Melania Trump, senior adviser Hope Hicks and press secretary Kayleigh McEnany are among more than 20 to test positive for COVID-19 from an outbreak tied to the White House. USA TODAY reporters examined hundreds of photos and videos from news coverage and social media posts and scoured attendance logs to identify people who came in contact with those individuals.

At least 6,000 people attended meetings, rallies and other gatherings with them within a week of the Supreme Court nomination ceremony Sept. 26 in the White House Rose Garden, pegged as a potential “superspreader” event. More than 120 people came dangerously close to Trump and the others during that week, the USA TODAY investigation found. They traveled, shook hands or mingled in tight, enclosed spaces with those who later tested positive for COVID-19. Dozens of others had physical contact or spent long periods talking in closed spaces with Trump and his aides. Epidemiologists and public health experts said USA TODAY’s analysis shows that the White House outbreak has put more people, in more places, at risk than has been previously known. It illustrates just how quickly and how far a superspreader event can carry COVID-19.