White House: Trump Won’t Follow Quarantine Order in New Jersey

Three people wear protective masks while sitting on the lawn in Bryant Park in New York City, N.Y., on May 22, 2020. Cindy Ord/Getty Images

The White House has indicated that President Donald Trump will not be quarantined for 14 days when he visits New Jersey over the weekend.

“The president of the United States is not a civilian,” White House spokesman Judd Deere said in a statement to The Hill on Wednesday. “Anyone who is in close proximity to him, including staff, guests, and press are tested for COVID-19 and confirmed to be negative,” Deere added.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont said on Wednesday that visitors from states that have significant cases of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, a novel coronavirus, will have to undergo quarantine. The three states experienced a surge of virus cases but are now recovering.

“This is the smart thing to do. We have taken our people ... through hell and back,” Murphy told reporters on a call Wednesday.

Cuomo on the same call added, “We worked very hard to get the viral transmission rate down. We don’t want to see it go up because a lot of people come into this region and they can literally bring the infection with them.”

Trump went to Arizona, which has seen an increase in virus cases, earlier in the week.

People ride bikes while wearing face coverings during the CCP virus pandemic in New York City, New York, on May 20, 2020. Cindy Ord/Getty Images

“With regard to Arizona, the White House followed its COVID mitigation plan to ensure the President did not come into contact with anyone who was symptomatic or had not been tested,” Deere added on Thursday, according to The Hill. “Anyone traveling in support of the president this weekend will be closely monitored for symptoms and tested for COVID and therefore pose little to no risk to the local populations.”

Earlier this month, in mid-June, Vice President Mike Pence, the main coordinator of the White House pandemic task force, stressed that there isn’t a “second wave” of the virus.

“Lost in the coverage is the fact that today less than 6 percent of Americans tested each week are found to have the virus,” he said. “Cases have stabilized over the past two weeks, with the daily average case rate across the U.S. dropping to 20,000—down from 30,000 in April and 25,000 in May. And in the past five days, deaths are down to fewer than 750 a day, a dramatic decline from 2,500 a day a few weeks ago—and a far cry from the 5,000 a day that some were predicting.”