White House residence staffers are reasonably worried about the ongoing spread of COVID-19.
While President Trump was transferred to Walter Reed Medical Center on Friday after testing positive for COVID-19, he's headed back to the White House on Monday evening. First lady Melania Trump never left.
But weeks before their diagnoses, two housekeepers at the White House also tested positive for COVID-19. And while they worked on a different floor than where the first family stays, they were told to use "discretion" and avoid talking about their illness, The New York Times reports.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Around 90 "ushers, butlers, housekeepers, valets, florists, engineers and cooks" make up the White House's permanent residence staff and usually stay on the job from president to president, The Washington Post details. "Discretion" is always a "key component" of their job, and "speaking out about anything, including working conditions, can be a cause for dismissal," the Post continues. But former staffers have come out to say they fear the first family hasn't worn masks around staffers, even in the residence's tight hallways.
-
5 health-conscious cartoons about anti-vaccine rhetoricCartoons Artists take on RFK Jr's militant methods, the viral lottery, and more
-
September 13 editorial cartoonsCartoons Saturday's political cartoons include court-approved racial profiling and America's moral compass
-
Giorgio Armani obituary: designer revolutionised the business of fashionIn the Spotlight ‘King Giorgio’ came from humble beginnings to become a titan of the fashion industry and redefine 20th century clothing
-
Texas declares end to measles outbreakSpeed Read The vaccine-preventable disease is still spreading in neighboring states, Mexico and Canada
-
RFK Jr. shuts down mRNA vaccine funding at agencySpeed Read The decision canceled or modified 22 projects, primarily for work on vaccines and therapeutics for respiratory viruses
-
Measles cases surge to 33-year highSpeed Read The infection was declared eliminated from the US in 2000 but has seen a resurgence amid vaccine hesitancy
-
Kennedy's vaccine panel signals skepticism, changeSpeed Read RFK Jr.'s new vaccine advisory board intends to make changes to the decades-old US immunization system
-
Kennedy ousts entire CDC vaccine advisory panelspeed read Health Secretary RFK Jr. is a longtime anti-vaccine activist who has criticized the panel of experts
-
RFK Jr. scraps Covid shots for pregnant women, kidsSpeed Read The Health Secretary announced a policy change without informing CDC officials
-
New FDA chiefs limit Covid-19 shots to elderly, sickspeed read The FDA set stricter approval standards for booster shots
-
US overdose deaths plunged 27% last yearspeed read Drug overdose still 'remains the leading cause of death for Americans aged 18-44,' said the CDC
