The U.S. Secret Service has reportedly ordered dozens of its officers who were working at President Donald Trump’s campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma to self-quarantine for 14 days.
According to the Washington Post and CNN, the officers were directed to do so after two Secret Service agents at the rally on Saturday got infected with COVID-19.
CNN reported that as a result the debacle, the Secret Service has enacted a new policy requiring agents to undergo COVID-19 tests 24 to 48 hours before accompanying Trump on a trip for the next several weeks.
“We want to make sure that we have a healthy workforce and that we are protecting our people,” an unnamed Secret Service official told CNN. “This is good common sense.”
Catherine Milhoan, the Secret Service’s director of communications, said in an emailed statement to TPM that the agency “remains prepared and staffed to fulfill all of the various duties as required.”
“Any implication that the agency is in some way unprepared or incapable of executing our mission would be inaccurate,” she added.
Milhoan would not disclose how many officers tested positive for the coronavirus or are under quarantine “to protect the privacy of our employees’ health information and for operational security.”
White House spokesperson Judd Deere told TPM in an emailed statement that Trump “takes the health and safety of everyone traveling in support of himself and all White House operations very seriously.”
“When preparing for and carrying out any travel, White House Operations collaborates with the Physician to the President and the White House Military Office, to ensure plans incorporate current CDC guidance and best practices for limiting COVID-19 exposure to the greatest extent possible,” Deere said.
