Trump admin. not contact tracing 'super-spreader' Rose Garden event: Report

Iran Press TV

Tuesday, 06 October 2020 3:06 AM

The White House has not investigated the super-spreader Rose Garden event that has made attendees contract the coronavirus.
The scope and source of the latest outbreak are, therefore, unknown, The New York Times suggested in its report on Monday.

"This is a total abdication of responsibility by the Trump administration," said Dr. Joshua Barocas, a public health expert at Boston University, who has advised the City of Boston on contact tracing. "The idea that we're not involving the CDC to do contact tracing at this point seems like a massive public health threat."

Since Trump's diagnosis, numerous associates have tested positive for the virus, but the government is making little effort to probe the super-spreader.

"You cannot argue against the fact that five or six people who attended that event all got infected, unless you argue that that was all random chance," said Dr. Yvonne Maldonado, an epidemiologist and contact tracing expert. "There were a lot of people working at that event, and so they need to be contact tracing that whole event."

Some contact tracing measures within the two-day window have been put in place but they are reportedly only limited to emails notifying people of potential exposure.

"I guess an email is notification of exposure," said Erin Sanders, a nurse practitioner and certified contact tracer in Boston. "But that is not contact tracing... and not how a responsible public health agency handles a super-spreading cluster of a deadly virus."

Earlier reports said President Trump refused to disclose the positive result from a rapid test for the coronavirus on Thursday.