A Brazilian official who met Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago last weekend has tested positive for coronavirus.
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Fabio Wajngarten, communications secretary to Jair Bolsonaro, accompanied the Brazilian president on a visit to Florida, where the two leaders dined together.
On Thursday the White House press secretary, Stephanie Grisham, said both Trump and Vice-President Mike Pence had “almost no interactions” with Wajngarten and therefore did not need to be tested themselves.
But during the visit Wajngarten shared on Instagram a picture of himself, Trump, Pence and Brazilian TV presenter Alvaro Garnero, while in one video, Wajngarten (wearing glasses) was seen just behind Bolsonaro and Trump.
Guidelines from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) state that coronavirus can spread “between people who are in close contact with one another (within about 6ft)”.
A Brazilian government statement said: “The medical service of the presidency of the Republic adopted and is adopting all the necessary preventative measures to preserve the health of the president of the republic and the entire presidential committee which accompanied him on the recent trip to the United States, as well as presidential palace staff.”
The US government had been informed “so that they can adopt the necessary cautionary measures”, the statement added.
Grisham cited the CDC when she said “there is currently no indication to test patients without symptoms, and only people with prolonged close exposure to confirmed positive cases should self-quarantine”.
Speaking in the Oval Office on Thursday, Trump said he wasn’t concerned. Asked about his dinner with the Brazilians, he said: “We did nothing very unusual.”
Two Republican senators, however, announced self-quarantine arising from their attendance at Mar-a-Lago.
Rick Scott of Florida said that though the Senate’s attending physician had advised him his risk was low, he was self-quarantining following “potential contact” with Wajngarten. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a close Trump ally, said that though he had “no recollection of direct contact with the president of Brazil, who is awaiting the results of a coronavirus test, or his spokesman who tested positive”, he would be working from home.
It was also reported that Wajngarten met leaders of Southcom, the US military’s southern command, who then travelled to meetings on Capitol Hill in Washington DC and at the Pentagon.
