{"id":89595,"date":"2020-10-10T06:43:40","date_gmt":"2020-10-10T11:43:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/?p=89595"},"modified":"2020-10-10T06:44:07","modified_gmt":"2020-10-10T11:44:07","slug":"auto-draft-253","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/2020\/10\/10\/auto-draft-253\/","title":{"rendered":"White House hosted Covid &#8216;superspreader&#8217; event, says Dr Fauci"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"story-body__introduction\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-89596 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Dr.-Fauci-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Dr.-Fauci-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Dr.-Fauci-150x100.jpg 150w, https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Dr.-Fauci.jpg 600w, https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Dr.-Fauci-24x16.jpg 24w, https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Dr.-Fauci-36x24.jpg 36w, https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Dr.-Fauci-48x32.jpg 48w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>BBC \u2014 Top US virus expert Dr Anthony Fauci has criticised the White House for hosting a gathering last month that has been linked to an outbreak of Covid-19.<\/p>\n<p>Dr Fauci, a member of the White House coronavirus task force, said the unveiling of President Donald Trump&#8217;s nominee to the Supreme Court was a &#8220;superspreader event&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>At least 11 people who attended the event on 26 September tested positive.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Trump is himself recovering from Covid-19.<\/p>\n<p>His doctors have just cleared him to hold public events, less than a month before he faces Democratic candidate Joe Biden in the presidential election.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Trump has expressed scepticism about measures such as masks and lockdowns to combat the spread of Covid-19, which has killed more than 213,000 people in the US. He has talked up the prospects of a vaccine becoming available, although researchers say this is unlikely to happen before next year at the earliest.<\/p>\n<p>Polling suggests Mr Biden has a single-digit lead over Mr Trump and an ABC News\/Ipsos poll found that just 35% of Americans approved of how Mr Trump has handled the crisis.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"story-body__unordered-list\">\n<li class=\"story-body__list-item\"><a class=\"story-body__link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/election-us-2020-53657174\">How is Donald Trump doing in the polls?<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"story-body__list-item\"><a class=\"story-body__link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/election-us-2020-54423928\">Why are infections rising again in US?<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 class=\"story-body__crosshead\">What did Dr Fauci say?<\/h2>\n<p>CBS News asked on Friday what Dr Fauci thought of the White House&#8217;s reluctance to insist on mask-wearing and social distancing as virus precautions, and instead rely on regular testing.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The data speak for themselves &#8211; we had a superspreader event in the White House, and it was in a situation where people were crowded together and were not wearing masks.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>An event at the White House on Saturday 26 September, for the president&#8217;s nomination of Amy Coney Barrett as a Supreme Court justice, is thought to be the root of the localised outbreak.<\/p>\n<p>As well as President Trump and his wife Melania, those who attended and later tested positive included two senators, the White House press secretary and former Trump counsellor Kellyanne Conway.<\/p>\n<p>Dr Fauci also noted experts have been recommending mask-wearing for the last six months, and condemned talk of a coronavirus &#8220;cure&#8221; &#8211; a word Mr Trump has used in reference to the experimental Covid-19 treatments he received during his recent stay at a military hospital.<\/p>\n<p>Large gatherings are still banned in the US capital due to Covid-19, but federal property like the White House is exempt.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"story-body__crosshead\">How is Mr Trump&#8217;s health?<\/h2>\n<p>Mr Trump &#8211; who was discharged from hospital on Monday after three nights &#8211; was asked in an interview with Fox News on Friday evening about the symptoms he had experienced.<\/p>\n<p>The president said he had not felt strong, but had found no problem breathing.<\/p>\n<p>Asked if he had re-tested for coronavirus on Friday, the president said he was at &#8220;either the bottom of the scale or free&#8221;, though he did not say his results were negative.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"story-body__crosshead\">What events does he have planned?<\/h2>\n<p>On Saturday, which according to his doctors will be 10 days since his diagnosis, Mr Trump will give a speech from the White House balcony to a group gathered on the South Lawn.<\/p>\n<p>Hundreds of people have reportedly been invited.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"story-body__unordered-list\">\n<li class=\"story-body__list-item\"><a class=\"story-body__link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/election-us-2020-54472053\">Top Republican avoids White House over Covid-19<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"story-body__list-item\"><a class=\"story-body__link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/election-us-2020-54304589\">US election 2020: Your top questions answered<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>All attendees will be required to wear masks, will be given temperature checks and encouraged to social distance, said the White House.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Trump&#8217;s remarks will be on the subject of &#8220;law and order&#8221;, according to the White House, which adds that it is a presidential rather than a campaign event.<\/p>\n<p>There will also be an event by the group Blexit, a campaign urging black voters to reject the Democratic party.<\/p>\n<p>On Monday the Trump campaign is planning a big rally in Sanford, Florida.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"story-body__crosshead\">What about the debates?<\/h2>\n<p>Next week&#8217;s second presidential debate between Mr Trump and his Democratic White House challenger Joe Biden is now officially cancelled.<\/p>\n<p>The Commission on Presidential Debates said in a statement on Friday that <a class=\"story-body__link-external\" href=\"https:\/\/www.debates.org\/2020\/10\/09\/statement-by-the-commission-on-presidential-debates-cpd-october-15-presidential-debate-will-not-proceed\/\">both campaigns had announced &#8220;alternate plans for that date&#8221;<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Trump had baulked at a request from the commission to hold the 15 October showdown virtually to minimise the risk of spreading coronavirus.<\/p>\n<p>The commission said it was still making arrangements for the third and final presidential debate in Nashville, Tennessee, on 22 October.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Trump campaign said the commission was &#8220;biased&#8221; towards Mr Biden, while the Democrat&#8217;s team accused the president of ducking the debate.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"story-body__crosshead\">Who has tested positive in Mr Trump&#8217;s circle?<\/h2>\n<p>The announcement of Mr Trump&#8217;s first mass gathering since his infection triggered alarms in Washington, where officials are still attempting to contact trace attendees from the White House event.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Trump tested positive for Covid-19 last Thursday, according to his doctors, but he has not said when his last negative test was.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"story-body__unordered-list\">\n<li class=\"story-body__list-item\"><a class=\"story-body__link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/election-us-2020-54401186\">Did this White House event cause a virus outbreak? <\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>As many as 34 White House aides and other contacts have tested positive for Covid-19 in recent days, according to US media.<\/p>\n<p>On Friday, the Minnesota Department of Health said nine infections have been tied to Mr Trump&#8217;s 18 September campaign rally in the state.<\/p>\n<p>At least one person was infectious when they attended, officials say, and two cases have led to hospital admissions, with one of those people in intensive care.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"media-portrait no-caption full-width\"><\/figure>\n<div class=\"story-body\">\n<div class=\"story-body__inner\">\u00a0<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"topic-tags\">\n<div id=\"u4170498573221266\">\n<div class=\"tags-container\">\n<h2 class=\"tags-title story-body__crosshead\">\u00a0<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>BBC \u2014 Top US virus expert Dr Anthony Fauci has criticised the White House for hosting a gathering last month that has been linked to an outbreak of Covid-19. Dr Fauci, a member of the White House coronavirus task force, said the unveiling of President Donald Trump&#8217;s nominee to the Supreme Court was a &#8220;superspreader [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":89596,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-89595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latests"],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"3.0.2","language":"en","enabled_languages":["fa","en"],"languages":{"fa":{"title":true,"content":false,"excerpt":false},"en":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89595","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89595"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89595\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":89598,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89595\/revisions\/89598"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89596"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}