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Originally Posted by detbuch
We don't know.
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White House Is Not Contact Tracing ‘Super-Spreader’ Rose Garden Event
The White House has decided not to trace the contacts of guests and staff members at the Rose Garden celebration 10 days ago for Judge Amy Coney Barrett, where at least eight people, including the president, may have become infected, according to a White House official familiar with the plans.
Instead, it has limited its efforts to notifying people who came in close contact with Mr. Trump in the two days before his Covid diagnosis Thursday evening. It has also cut the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which has the government’s most extensive knowledge and resources for contact tracing, out of the process.
Contact tracing is an essential piece of any outbreak investigation and is a key to stopping the virus from spreading further, especially after a potential “super spreader” event where many people may have been infected.
The White House official, who declined to be identified because he was not authorized to speak about the matter, said that the administration was following C.D.C. guidelines that recommend focusing on contacts within a two-day window from diagnosis. But public health experts said it was irresponsible to ignore the earlier gathering at the Rose Garden.
“You cannot argue against the fact that five or six people who attended that event all got infected, unless you argue that that was all random chance,” said Dr. Yvonne Maldonado, an epidemiologist and contact tracing expert. “There were a lot of people working at that event, and so they need to be contact tracing that whole event.”
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