AUSTIN, Texas — Hours after President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump tested positive for COVID-19, Austin Public Health held its weekly press conference to answer questions related to the virus.
On Thursday, White House officials revealed that the president's counselor Hope Hicks tested positive for coronavirus two days after traveling with him to Ohio and Minnesota. Shortly after, President Trump said he and the first lady would begin their quarantine process. Trump later tweeted just before midnight that he and Melania both received positive results.
During Friday's press conference, Interim Health Authority Dr. Mark Escott said this news highlights the importance of personal hygiene and contact tracing in limiting the spread of the virus.
"The first reaction was concern for the president and the first lady," Dr. Escott said. "COVID-19 can impact severely many people and the president, in particular, is at higher risk than others for complications, including hospitalization and death. But we also know from the epidemiological evaluations from our cases as well as the data from around the country that transmission happens when protective measures are not followed."
Though local health officials said they are not fully aware of the White House's protocols regarding the virus, contact tracing likely played a role in their fast response.
"One benefit in terms of case investigation and contact tracing as it pertains to the president and first lady is that they’re going to have an exhaustive list of individuals who were in contact with the president," said Dr. Escott. "They’re going to have more specifics than usual on the duration of that contact. So I would imagine they would be able to do an effective job on contact tracing."
In regard to contact tracing here in the Austin area, health officials said they try to identify anybody who has had contact with someone who has tested positive within 6 feet for at least a cumulative 15-minute period.
"Even if they are masked," said APH Chief Epidemiologist Janet Pichette. "And we would follow those people up and we would place those people into quarantine and make sure they are monitoring their symptoms and are getting the appropriate testing to rule out any disease transmission."
Both locally and nationally, they said contact tracing has been a challenge.
"Having that detailed information, having individuals being willing to share that information so that we can protect the rest of the community as well as notify their contacts," said Dr. Escott. "And, again, I can’t stress enough the importance of that cooperation of those who do test positive that it is essential for us to relieve the spread and ensure that those who have been exposed are informed."
And, of course, Escott and Pichette stressed the importance of practicing safe, preventative measures such as personal hygiene, social distancing and masking.
"It’s important that we have layers of protection," said Dr. Escott. "In the case of the White House, we don’t have the details on the protocols there. I understand that everyone is screened before interacting with the president, but screening itself is not enough. Screening is not a perfect science. There’s going to be false positives, there’s going to be false negatives."
Since the Trumps' positive results, Vice President Mike Pence and his wife have tested negative. After sharing the debate stage with President Trump for more than 90 minutes earlier this week, Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, have also tested negative.
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