Trump doctor repeatedly evades questions on the last time president tested negative for coronavirus

(Image credit: SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)

published 5 October 2020

President Trump's physician Dr. Sean Conley was evasive when asked multiple times on Monday about the last time Trump tested negative for the coronavirus before his diagnosis last week.

Conley addressed reporters Monday afternoon outside Walter Reed hospital, where Trump has been receiving treatment for COVID-19, a few hours before the president's scheduled discharge. The question about Trump's testing history was asked repeatedly, but Conley dodged, offering no detail and simply saying, "I don't want to go backwards."

Reporters were searching for the answer because it's still unclear when and where Trump first contracted the virus, as well as who else may have been exposed in light of a growing list of positive tests connected to the White House. Conley did say contact tracing was underway, but that doesn't fall under his jurisdiction.

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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.