3 more people in Trump's orbit test positive for coronavirus

The number of coronavirus cases connected to the outbreak in the White House continued to grow Friday night after three more prominent figures in President Trump's orbit were confirmed to have been infected.

Former White House adviser Kellyanne Conway, Trump's campaign manager Bill Stepien, and Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) have all tested positive for COVID-19 since the president announced his own positive test earlier this week. Conway and Tillis tweeted the news of their diagnoses late Friday evening, and both are apparently feeling well. Conway said she is experiencing a light cough, while Tillis said he has no symptoms. The Trump re-election campaign confirmed Stepien's positive test Friday night, and he reportedly has mild symptoms.

While it's still not clear exactly when and where Conway, Tillis, and Stepien contracted the virus, Conway and Tillis both attended Judge Amy Coney Barrett's Supreme Court nomination at the White House last Saturday. Trump, first lady Melania Trump, Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), and University of Notre Dame President Rev. John Jenkins, who were all at the ceremony, also tested positive. Read more at The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times.

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Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.