A top government infectious diseases expert said he signed off on the town hall President Donald Trump is scheduled to take part in on Thursday night.
Dr. Anthony Fauci said he and Dr. Clifford Lane “came to the conclusion, I think, certainly correctly, that he is of no threat to transmit the virus to anybody else.”
“The only statement that we made is that people were asking, ‘is the president putting other people in danger because he had been infected?’ And the answer to that is no, he is not,” Fauci said on “CBS Evening News” this week.
Trump, 74, tested positive for COVID-19 on Oct. 1 and spent several days receiving treatment at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.
COVID-19 is the disease caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus. It kills a small percentage of patients but most recover.
Fauci heads the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) at the National Institutes of Health. Lane is a deputy director at NIAID.
Fauci appeared unaware that the town hall in Miami will be held outdoors.
Asked if the event will be safe, he said: “Well, I would hope that people would be wearing masks. I hope that they’re physically separated enough from each other. I hope there’s good ventilation in the room so that you don’t have the recirculation of air that might have a virus in it.”
“I think when you have an event like that, you’ve got to make sure that you dot all the Is and cross all the Ts of public health recommendations,” he added.
NBC News is hosting the town hall at the Pérez Art Museum “in accordance with guidelines set forth by health officials and consistent with all government regulations.”
That includes Trump and moderator Savannah Guthrie being positioned at least 12 feet apart from each other and the audience. Federal health recommendations encourage non-household members to stay 6 feet apart to prevent transmission of the CCP virus.
Audience members will also be required to wear masks, answer a questionnaire about symptoms, and submit to a temperature check before being allowed to enter the outdoor venue. Every NBC staffer on site will also be tested.
NBC said it received a statement from Lane and Fauci reviewing Trump’s recent medical data. They concluded “with a high degree of confidence” that the president was “not shedding infectious virus.”
White House physician Dr. Sean Conley announced over the weekend that it was safe for Trump to exit isolation and return to an active schedule.
That morning’s testing sample “demonstrates, by currently recognized standards, he is no longer considered a transmission risk to others,” Conley said in a memorandum.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) criteria for ending self-quarantine for individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 is to have already been isolated for 10 days since the initial onset of symptoms, having been fever-free without the use of medication for at least 24 hours, and that other symptoms of COVID-19 are improving.
Conley added on Monday that Trump tested negative 2 days in a row for COVID-19.
On the same day, Trump resumed campaigning with a rally in Florida.
Two people involved with Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s campaign, including the communications director for his running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday.
Biden is slated to hold a town hall in Philadelphia on Thursday night.
Melanie Sun contributed to this report.
