White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) President Jonathan Karl told members of media organizations that a colleague tested positive for the CCP virus.
He wrote Monday “we have been informed that one of our colleagues has a suspected case of COVID-19.”
The person, who was not identified, was at the White House on March 9, 11, 16, and 18. President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence held briefings about the White House’s efforts to deal with the pandemic on three of those days.
All journalists who can stay at home or work remotely should try and do so, he said.
According to Karl, the WHCA said it will implement a new seating chart in an attempt to provide more social distancing.
Last week, Trump told reporters that they are sitting “too close” and half-joked that they will probably have to ultimately leave amid the virus crisis.
“Really, we should probably get rid of about 75, 80 percent of you. I'll have just two or three of you that I like in this room. I think that’s a great way of doing it,” Trump said at the time.
Trump was responding to a question about members of Congress testing positive for the CCP virus.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) announced on Sunday that he tested positive for the virus.
“He is asymptomatic and was tested out of an abundance of caution due to his extensive travel and events. He was not aware of any direct contact with any infected person,” his office wrote in a statement.