Pence says he and Trump won’t stop shaking hands despite advice not to in order to avoid coronavirus

Vice President Mike Pence reminded Americans on Tuesday not to shake hands to help prevent the spread of coronavirus but said he and President Donald Trump could continue to do so.

‘In our line of work, you shake hands when someone wants to shake your hand,’ Pence said at the daily White House briefing on the virus when asked if the president should stop shaking hands with people. 

At the briefing, White House officials displayed a sign with tips to protect against exposure to the disease. One of those was to avoid hand shaking. 

Pence famously elbow-bumped Governor Jay Inslee when he visited Washington state last week, where 22 people have died. Health officials have recommended the move instead of shaking hands. 

‘I expect the president will continue to do that, I will continue to do it,’ Pence said of hand-shaking.  

President Trump shook hands with retired U.S. General Jack Keane at ceremony at the White House earlier in the day when he awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Trump also shook hands with supporters on Monday when he landed in Orlando for a fundraiser. 

And a former Secret Service agent told The Washington Post that shaking hands was too dangerous for the president right now.

‘Forget about rope lines — it’s the ultimate threat,’ the agent said. 

There have been 29 Coronavirus deaths in the United States and over 850 confirmed cases. 

The president has said repeatedly he’s not concerned about catching the disease and will continue to hold campaign rallies. Democratic presidential contenders Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden canceled campaign rallies scheduled for Cleveland Tuesday night after health officials recommended against large gatherings. 

The Trump campaign has not announced any rally cancellations. The president is scheduled to speak at the Republican Jewish Coalition in Las Vegas on Saturday and organizers said the even will continue. 

And the Trump campaign announced Tuesday that the president will be in Milwaukee on March 19 to launch a ‘Catholics for Trump’ coalition. 

And President Trump said Tuesday he didn’t see any reason to be tested for the coronavirus after three lawmakers he’s shaken hands with went into self-quarantine after being exposed to an individual with the disease.

‘I don’t think it is a big deal. I don’t feel any reason, I feel extremely good. I feel very good,’ he told reporters on Capitol Hill after he met with Senate Republicans to discuss a package to combat the economic effects of the disease. 

‘But I guess it’s not a big deal to get tested. It is something I would do, but again, I spoke to the White House doctor, terrific guy, talented guy. He said there is no reason to do with it. There is no symptoms, no anything. If there were, you people would be the first to know it. You would may be even tell me about it,’ the president added.

Trump has been in contact with a slew of politicians who have gone under self-quarantine. 

One of them, Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz, who traveled with President Trump on Air Force One on Monday and spent the weekend at Mar-a-Lago with several members of the Trump family, announced he tested negative for the disease.

On Monday, Gaetz was informed – while he was traveling on Air Force One – that he had come into contact with an infected individual. The Florida Republican, who was pictured wearing a gas mask on Capitol Hill during a vote on funding to combat the disease, said he would self-quarantine out of precaution.

‘I’ve just been informed that my COVID-19 lab result was negative. In an abundance of caution, I will remain under self-quarantine at the advice of medical professionals through Thursday at 2pm. I continue to feel fine and show no symptoms,’ Gaetz wrote on Twitter Tuesday afternoon. 

At a press conference in the White House briefing room on Monday, the president refused to answer repeated questions on whether he had been tested. 

White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham announced later that night he had not.  

‘The President has not received COVID-19 testing because he has neither had prolonged close contact with any known confirmed COVID-19 patients, nor does he have any symptoms,’ White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said in a statement.

‘President Trump remains in excellent health, and his physician will continue to closely monitor him.’

At that Monday briefing, Vice President Mike Pence said he hadn’t been tested. 

However, that same evening Trump’s new acting chief of staff Mark Meadows announced he was exposed to the virus and was under self-quarantine. 

Both Meadows and Gaetz said they were exposed after they came into contact with an individual at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) last month who later tested positive for the coronavirus.  

Meadows, who was appointed last week, announced he will self-isolate in his home ‘out of an abundance of caution’ after he was exposed to the virus. 

‘Meadows received testing which came back negative. While he’s experiencing zero symptoms, under doctors’ standard precautionary recommendations, he’ll remain at home until the 14 day period expires this Wednesday,’ his spokesperson Ben Williamson said.  

Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, Paul Gosar of Arizona, and Doug Collins of Georgia, had already announced they will quarantine as well after attending the conference.

Trump has been exposed to at least three people who have gone into self-quarantine as a precaution. 

Those people include Gaetz, American Conservative Union chairman Matt Schlapp who shook hands with someone infected days earlier, and Collins, who he shook hands with on Friday as they toured the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

The president left a White House briefing on the disease after making a brief statement on the economic measures his administration was taking to combat the economic shake-up. 

He left the room and didn’t answer as multiple journalists asked him if he had been tested for the virus. 

Vice President Mike Pence, who stayed to continue the briefing, said he has never been tested for the virus. 

Pence and President Trump both attended the Conservative Political Action Conference at the end of last month, where an attendee tested positive for the disease.  

‘Well, I just simply don’t know what the White House physician has recommended in terms of the president, but I promise we’ll get that information,’ Pence said in the briefing room. 

‘We’ll let you know tonight,’ he added. 

‘Obviously the White House physicians, their directive is to see of the health and the well being of the president of the United States and we’ll get you a very direct answer on that,’ Pence said. 

As far as his own health goes, he added, ‘I’ve had no recommendation that I be tested.’ 

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she thought President Trump should be tested.

‘I thought he should be tested for a long time now,’ she told CNN Monday night on Capitol Hill. 

Gaetz learned after Air Force One left Orlando that he had been in touch with an infected person at CPAC, two sources told The New York Times. He then essentially quarantined himself, sitting in a section of the plane alone, the paper reported. 

He had spent the weekend in Florida with President Trump and several members of the first family and traveled back from the state on Air Force One with the president. 

‘Congressman Gaetz was informed today that he came into contact with a CPAC attendee 11 days ago who tested positive for COVID-19,’ his office said in a statement. 

‘While the Congressman is not experiencing symptoms, he received testing today and expects results soon. Under doctor’s usual precautionary recommendations, he’ll remain self-quarantined until the 14-day period expires this week.’ 

Gaetz traveled on Air Force One with President Trump on Monday when the president returned from Florida. 

He was spotted getting off the back of the plane, where he was met by an Air Force official and escorted to a waiting car. He was seen getting on the plane in Orlando, where he walked up the front stairs of Air Force One after the president. 

The congressman told The Washington Post he was put into a ‘closed up room’ on Air Force One after he found out he might have been exposed to coronavirus. 

After landing, Trump ‘coaxed’ him up front before leaving. 

‘He was not hyper cautious about being in the same space that I was in,’ Gaetz told the newspaper.

‘I refused to go into his office, I stood outside the door. I told him he could talk from that distance,’ he said. 

The Florida Republican wore a gas mask on the House floor last week to mock the hype surrounding the epidemic. 

The stunt drew enormous attention, which his office acknowledged in Monday’s statement.

‘Congressman Gaetz had expected COVID-19 to impact Congress, given the elevated frequency of travel and human contact, and demonstrated his concern last week on the House Floor,’ Gaetz office said.

His Washington D.C. office on Capitol Hill will also be closed but his Florida office will remain open.

Gaetz was spotted at Mar-a-Lago Saturday night where there was a dinner for Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and a birthday party for Kimberly Guilfoyle.

Also spotted at Mar-a-Lago that night were President Trump, Guilfoyle, Donald Trump Jr.; Eric Trump and his wife Lara Trump; Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner.

Tiffany Trump was also spotted in photos posted to social media. Also seen was Rudy Giuliani, the president’s personal attorney; Vice President Mike Pence; Republican Senator Lindsey Graham; and Fox News host Tucker Carlson.   

Gaetz was spotted on Wednesday wearing the mask ahead of the vote on an emergency spending bill to fight the virus.

Just two days later and health officials announced the death of a man in Santa Rosa County, which falls under Gaetz’s northwestern Florida district. A second elderly person in Lee County has also died. 

‘I’m extremely saddened to learn of the first fatality in our district from coronavirus, a Northwest Floridian residing in Santa Rosa County. Our prayers are with his family and loved ones during this difficult time,’ Gaetz said in a statement.  

‘Reviewing the coronavirus supplemental appropriation and preparing to go vote,’ Gaetz had tweeted ahead of a vote on the $8.3 billion bill to combat the spread of the virus. 

Gaetz, explaining his bizarre accessory, compared the House chamber to a ‘petri dish’ for incubating germs.

‘We all fly in these dirty airports, we touch and selfie everyone we meet and then we congregate together,’ the Florida congressman said.

Among those who asked him to take the mask off were Ruben Gallego, a combat veteran and Arizona Democrat. 

The House sergeant-at-arms asked Gaetz to remove his gas mask in the chamber, citing rules against headgear.

Gaetz initially protested as he walked off the House floor. ‘There are provisions in the House rules that permit medically necessary headgear,’ Gaetz said.

Gaetz later acknowledged in a statement to The Hill that ‘House rules do not explicitly allow medical headgear even at this time of heightened concern,’ adding, ‘This is a rule that should be revisited.’ 

Gaetz is the latest Republican lawmaker to voluntarily self-quarantine after a CPAC attendee was revealed to have tested positively for the disease.

Republican Rep. Doug Collins also went into quarantine on Monday.

Collins traveled with Trump last Friday as the president went to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, and the two were photographed shaking hands.

He joins Texas Senator Ted Cruz and Arizona Congressman Paul Gosar, as self-quarantining after the potential exposure. 

Cruz announced his decision Sunday night.

Thousands of conservatives attended CPAC, which was addressed by President Trump, Mike Pence and a string of other loyalists. 

Among the guests was the mystery 55-year-old man who tested positive according to Maryland health authorities.   

But Matt Schlapp, the chairman of CPAC, said he feels ‘healthy as a horse’ after the ‘incidental contact’ with the man who is now recovering in New Jersey following the event in Washington DC from February 27 to March 1.   

Cruz has admitted that he also shook hands with the infected man and has put himself into 14-day quarantine.

‘Last night, I was informed that 10 days ago at CPAC I briefly interacted with an individual who is currently symptomatic and has tested positive for COVID-19,’ Cruz said in a statement Sunday. ‘That interaction consisted of a brief conversation and a handshake.’ 

On Sunday, Arizona Republican Paul Gosar joined Cruz by self-quarantining. 

‘I am announcing that I, along with three of my senior staff, are officially under self-quarantine after sustained contact at CPAC with a person who has since been hospitalized with the Wuhan Virus.’

It comes as the US coronavirus death toll climbed to 22 with another patient dying in Washington state. Grant County Health District confirmed the death without giving further details. 

Schlapp was seen interacting with the likes of Ivanka Trump, Lara Trump and Jared Kushner at the event last week where he also came into contact with the infected person.

‘I had incidental contact with him, very briefly… I feel healthy as a horse,’ Schlapp told Fox Sunday.

Schlapp said he had contacted anyone who may have had contact with the infected individual but said that person ‘had no contact with either the president or the vice president’.

‘I can tell you, when the president was on site at CPAC, he lives by what he tells us, because I saw him scrub down his hand and clean his hands more than once while he was on the premises, and I did the same,’ Schlapp said. 

He added in a tweet Sunday night: ‘We did ask the patient the names of everyone he spent time with. Those who interacted with the attendee were informed. The good news is NO ONE has any symptoms.’ 

War Room podcast host Raheem Kassam said he was around the infected man and had been ‘flu-sick unwell for the past week’. 

He claimed the infected man was around for most of the Thursday activities and noting that Gosar and Cruz were in the green room 1pm to 5pm that day, Kassam said the likes of Rep Louie Gohmert, KellyAnne Conway and Rep Matt Gaetz may be at risk.

Kassam said the infected person was around on the Friday too. 

‘Everyone at the CPAC Shabbat dinner should be checked. The attendee was there,’ Kassam tweeted Sunday. 

He alleged there could be a second infected person. Kassam said he and others were ‘apoplectic about how they have not been better informed of what happened’. 

As of Sunday evening, 550 people in the US had tested positive for COVID-19 and 22 people had died. Globally 110,037 people have tested positive for coronavirus and and 3,825 people have died.  

President Trump previously said he’s not concerned about any risk. 

Cruz, however, said in his statement that he’s cutting himself off from further public interaction despite medics believing he’s not a risk. He also said he’s notified other politicians who attended CPAC. 

‘I have consulted with medical authorities from the Houston Health Department, the Harris County Public Health Department, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Department of Health and Human Services, as well as my personal physician,’ he tweeted.’I have also spoken with Vice President Pence, Leader McConnell, and Mark Meadows.’  

 

Source: dailymail US