Daily US Times: President Donald Trump appears ready to move on from the coronavirus pandemic, which is still raging on in the US — skipping the first White House task force briefing. But the measures meant to protect Trump from catching the virus have scaled up dramatically.

As he seeks to insert rival Joe Biden’s health into the presidential campaign, Trump has voiced escalating concern about how it would appear if he contracted coronavirus and has insisted on steps to protect himself, even as he agitates for large campaign rallies where the virus could spread and refuses to wear a mask in public.

According to people familiar with the President’s protective arrangements, when he travels to locations where the virus is surging, every venue he enters is inspected for potential areas of contagion by advance security and medical teams.

Bathrooms designated for the President’s use are sanitized and scrubbed before he arrives. Staff maintains a close accounting of who will come into contact with the President to ensure they receive coronavirus tests.

In order to protect Trump from catching the virus, the White House phases out steps such as wearing face masks in the West Wing and temperature checks — changes meant to signal the country is moving on — those around the President still undergo regular testing. Even as Trump attempts to leave the pandemic behind by downplaying the new surge and encouraging reopening, there are signs of the still-raging pandemic even within his orbit.

This week, the virus again struck members of the President’s staff, this time US Secret Service personnel who had been working on Trump’s campaign rally in Tulsa, and a collection of campaign aides.

CNN reported citing two sources familiar with the matter that a third White House staffer who was recently in Trump’s vicinity also tested positive. the staffer is a senior economic official who was in the Rose Garden with Trump during an event this month.

As infections surge in several states and the reopenings come to a halt, the President’s political allies and advisers are growing concerned he is moving on from a pandemic still gripping the nation — and, this week, members of his own team. He was absent from Friday’s coronavirus task force briefing, which only heightened the impression that he is leaving the pandemic response to others.

When the meeting got underway, the President was back at the White House tweeting about attempts to tear down statues and abruptly canceling a planned trip to New Jersey so he could, he claimed, ensure that “law and order” is maintained over the weekend.

Protective bubble

The protective bubble around him has grown thicker, even as Trump attempts to move on. Aides say the steps are necessary to allow the President — by all definitions an essential worker — to continue leading the country amid the pandemic.

But people familiar with the matter say the precautions also stem from Trump’s own insistence that he not infected with the disease and his heightened awareness of how a sick President’s ability to command a response to the pandemic and how it would affect the country’s view of him.

At the beginning of the outbreak, Trump told aides he must avoid getting sick at all costs. After that, efforts to prevent him from contracting the virus have progressively become more intensive and wide-ranging. Early steps such as keeping more hand sanitizer nearby eventually evolved into an intensive safety apparatus, including the testing regimen requiring dozens of staffers.

Genuine alarm

The President appeared genuinely alarmed when people close to him contracted the disease. He repeatedly raised his friend Stanley Chera, who had been friends for decades with Trump and a New York real estate developer. Trump described his surprise at Chera’s descent from contracting the virus to entering a coma to eventually succumbing to the disease.

Later, Trump was surprised again to learn that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, one of his closest foreign allies, had fallen seriously ill from the virus, at one point being admitted to an intensive care unit in London. Trump asked for frequent updates on Johnson’s critical health condition and later asked to speak with him as soon as he was on his way to recovery.

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