130+ Secret Service Officers Infected With COVID-19 Due To Trump's Campaign Travels
Nov. 13 2020, Published 4:13 p.m. ET
Do you think Donald Trump will wear a mask now? More than 130 Secret Service officers who have traveled with the 74-year-old recently on the campaign trail have been ordered to isolate or quarantine after testing positive for the novel coronavirus, OK! can confirm.
So, how exactly did members of the security team contract the disease? It’s believed that after Trump attended his campaign rallies right before the November 3 election in certain hot spots, including Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, many of his staff got sick.
The spread of the disease has "sidelined roughly 10 percent of the agency’s core security team," The Washington Post reported. As of Thursday, November 12, there were more than 152,000 new cases reported in the nation, and it’s only getting worse.
INSIDE THE EXPLOSIVE WHITE HOUSE COVID-19 CRISIS — EVERYTHING WE KNOW
"Being down more than 100 officers is very problematic," one former senior Secret Service supervisor said. "That does not bode well for White House security."
This is not the first time Secret Service agents fell ill, either. Over the summer, dozens of people were forced to quarantine after Trump held two huge indoor rallies — one in Tulsa, Okla., and one in Arizona.
At the time, Secret Services spokesman Catherine Milhoan told The Washington Post that the agency "continues to methodically assess the unique requirements necessary to operate in the ongoing pandemic environment."
Want OK! each day? Sign up here!
After Trump contracted the virus in October, he insisted on taking a ride outside the hospital to show everyone that he was on the mend. In the car, a Secret Service agent came along for the ride, which got a lot of criticism.
CELEBRITIES WHO HAVE HAD CORONAVIRUS — STARS EXPLAIN THEIR EXPERIENCES WITH THE COVID-19
However, White House spokesman Judd Deere told reporters that "appropriate precautions were taken in the execution of this movement to protect the President and all those supporting it."
Not only is the virus wreaking havoc on Trump’s security team, but it’s also affected his allies and some White House officials.
On Wednesday, November 11, Trump’s campaign advisor Corey Lewandowski tested positive for COVID-19 but said he is feeling "fine" and "great." Trump campaign advisor David Bossie also announced that he contracted the virus, in addition to White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, Housing and Urban Development secretary Ben Carson, White House political director Brian Jack and former Trump aide Healy Baumgardner.
JIMMY KIMMEL, SOPHIA BUSH AND MORE CELEBS REACT TO TRUMP'S COVID-19 DIAGNOSIS
All attended the White House’s election night party, which was held indoors. Deere said the administration takes "every case seriously."
Staffers are hesitant about returning to work amid the outbreak. "They are terrified, they are exhausted, and they are still giving everything that they got to a man who does not care if they live or die," a source exclusively told OK!. "And they will never complain, never say nothing bad because they are the most loyal people on this planet."