friday, march 13 , 2020. the washington post ez su A21
The coronavirus outbreak
other. We s aid, ‘What are we going
to do?’ You know, it’s sort of a
weird feeling,” Trump said to
laughter.
Varadkar said that the two
leaders had opted for clasping
their own hands together in front
of their chests. He demonstrated,
with a small tilt of the head.
Trump noted that in other cul-
tures, in places such as India and
Japan, people do not routinely
shake hands, virus or no virus,
and he seemed to approve.
“They were ahead of the curve,
okay?” Trump said.
“It’s a very strange feeling,” he
said. “You know, I was never a big
hand-shaker, as you probably
heard. But once you become a
politician, shaking hands is very
normal.”
Trump has described himself as
a germophobe, but since entering
politics he has made peace with
the rope line and the rally.
Trump’s rallies often place thou-
sands of people in close quarters
for hours, something the presi-
dent acknowledged Thursday he
is reconsidering because of the
virus risk.
But his motivation to continue
with public events and to resist
getting tested may be rooted in his
aversion to any sign of weakness.
People close to Trump described
him as uninterested in being test-
ed. He has told at least two advis-
ers that if he gets sick, he will get
tested.
A former aide said Trump never
wanted to be viewed as sick, be-
cause he saw it as being weak. So
even when Trump would come
down with a cough or lose his
voice, he would try to keep a
strong public face — or staffers
would come up with other rea-
sons to move events. The former
aide spoke on the condition of
anonymity to describe Trump’s
behavior.
Sounding somewhat dejected
Thursday, Trump said he is un-
likely to hold big rallies for awhile. He h as canceled events this
weekend in Nevada and Colorado
and said a previously unan-
nounced event in Ta mpa is unlike-
ly to go forward.
The Secret Service has not ad-
vised Trump to stay c lose to home,
he said.
“They have not, but it’s com-
mon sense,” Trump said. “You
know, a lot of it is — and what I say
is: Use common sense, like wash-
ing your hands and, you know,
certain things. Keep a little bit of
distance away.”
But still, no test, according to
White House press secretary
Stephanie Grisham.
“Exposures from the case are
being assessed, which will dictate
next steps,” she said in a state-
ment Thursday. “Both the Presi-
dent and Vice President had al-
most no interactions with the in-
dividual who tested positive and
do not require being tested at this
time.”
She added that under guide-
lines from the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, “there is
currently no indication to test
patients without symptoms, and
only people with prolonged close
exposure to confirmed positive
cases should self-quarantine.”
Meanwhile, test results for Bol-
sonaro, who sat next to Trump at
dinner, were expected Friday.
“The medical service of the
presidency of the Republic has
adopted and is adopting all of the
necessary preventive measures to
preserve the health of the Presi-
dent of the Republic and the en-
tire presidential committee that
accompanied him in the recent
official trip to the United States,”
the presidential press office said
in a statement.
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]mccoy reported from rio de Janeiro.
heloisa tr aiano in rio de Janeiro
contributed to this report.BY ANNE GEARAN,
JOSH DAWSEY
AND TERRENCE MCCOYA senior Brazilian official who
dined and was photographed
with President Trump and Vice
President Pence last weekend in
Florida is infected with the coro-
navirus, marking the closest
known contact between Trump
and someone carrying the highly
communicable illness that has
shuttered many aspects of daily
life across the globe and cratered
financial markets.
Fabio Wajngarten, communi-
cations secretary for Brazilian
President Jair Bolsonaro, posed
for a photograph with Trump and
Pence at a dinner for Bolsonaro at
Mar-a-Lago, the president’s pri-
vate club in Palm Beach, on Satur-
day.
Prominent members of the
Trump administration and
Trump family members also at-
tended either the dinner or a
party the same night in honor of
former Fox News host Kimberly
Guilfoyle, who is dating Donald
Trump Jr.
Trump’s contact with Wajngar-
ten is the latest example of a
potential coronavirus close call
for the president, who says he is
following at least some of his
administration’s advice about
preventing the spread of the dis-
ease but also continues to play
down the threat of a potentially
deadly illness.
“Let’s put it this way: I’m not
concerned,” T rump said Thursday
as news broke that Wajngarten
had fallen ill and tested positive
for the virus after returning to
Brazil.
Bolsonaro underwent testing
and is awaiting results. Trump is
not being tested and brushed off
the risk Thursday.
“Yeah, I did hear something
about that. We h ad dinner togeth-
er in Florida in — at Mar-a-Lago,
with the entire delegation,”
Trump said. “I don’t know if the
press aide was there. If he was
there, he was there.”
“But we did nothing very un-
usual. We sat next to each other
for a period of time, had a great
conversation. He’s doing a terrific
job in Brazil,” Trump said, refer-
ring to Bolsonaro. “A nd we’ll find
out what happens. I guess they’re
being tested right now, right?”
Trump did not seem to remem-
ber Wajngarten well, but a photo
the aide posted on social media
shows him standing shoulder to
shoulder with Trump, with Pence
on the president’s other side.
The interaction follows several
instances in which Trump has
spent time with members of Con-
gress and others who had been in
contact with an attendee at the
Conservative Political Action
Conference in late February who
tested positive f or the coronavirus
after the conference ended. But
word of the infection did not come
until after Reps. Douglas A. Col-
lins (R-Ga.) and Matt Gaetz (R-
Fla.) had spent time with Trump.
Both congressmen opted to
self-quarantine until it was clear
they were not infected. Sen. Lind-
sey O. Graham (R-S.C.) an-
nounced Thursday that he is do-
ing the same “as a precautionary
measure” a fter attending the Mar-
a-Lago dinner. Like many Ameri-
cans, Graham will be working
from home.
Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), anoth-
er dinner guest, announced a self-Infected Brazil o∞cial
had dined with Trump
quarantine Thursday because of
attendance at Mar-a-Lago, as did
the mayors of Miami and Miami-
Dade County.
No such announcements of
quarantines or testing came on
behalf of anyone at the White
House — though Trump advisers
Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump,
acting director of national intelli-
gence Richard Grenell, national
security adviser Robert C. O’Brien
and others close to the president
were at Mar-a-Lago that night.
Some apparently met the Brazil-
ian staffers, others did not.
Donors who saw Trump in
small settings this past weekend
in Florida were asked when they
last left the country and whether
they’d had any flu-like symptoms
but were not asked to undergo a ny
additional screening, said people
familiar with the arrangements
who spoke on the condition of
anonymity to discuss the sensitive
issue. Trump attended at least
four fundraisers over the week-
end, some with dozens of attend-
ees.
On Saturday, Trump interactedwith a much larger group of peo-
ple, including many who had not
been asked screening questions.
After dinner with the visiting Bra-
zilian delegation, Trump went
into the ballroom at Mar-a-Lago
and stood amid the crowd and
gave a toast to Guilfoyle.
He was seen shaking dozens of
hands throughout the packed
club, attendees said.
One person who was present
said there is no way to know
whether fellow guests were sick.
“ You don’t get a health screen-
ing at Mar-a-Lago obviously,” t his
person said, speaking on the con-
dition of anonymity to discuss
private events at the club.
White House officials have
sought to limit foreign l eader con-
tact at the White House going
forward, according to a senior
administration official.
Sitting alongside visiting Irish
prime minister Leo Varadkar at
the White House on Thursday,
Trump acknowledged that he has
adjusted his routine a bit.
“Well, we didn’t shake hands
today. And we looked at eachalan santos/brazil’s Presidential Press office/associated Press
President Trump with Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro and Vice President
Pence at Mar-a-Lago. Right behind Trump is Fabio Wajngarten.40 index and Germany’s DAX in-
dex both fell by more than 11 per-
cent. Wall Street f ollowed suit.
The details of Trump’s travel
restrictions also confounded
many European leaders and poli-
cymakers, underscoring the view
that the m ove was largely political.
“We can’t adequately meet this
challenge — not even within the
USA — when decisions being
made are garnished with blame,”
German Foreign Minister Heiko
Maas said in an emailed state-
ment, adding that reasons “less
than factual” appeared to have
played a role in Trump’s decision-
making.
The ban covered only the
Schengen area, the European
Union’s border-free travel zone, a
26-nation region that does not
include B ritain or the I rish R epub-
lic. Any non-U.S. citizen who has
been in the region in the past two
weeks is included in the ban, with
a handful o f exceptions.
The E.U. is a regular target of
Trump’s ire, and he has praised
Britain’s e xit f rom the b loc.
But there are more cases of
coronavirus in Britain than in
many of the countries covered by
the ban. Across the 26 nations hit
by the ban, there were more than
21,000 active cases of the novel
coronavirus as of Thursday morn-
ing, and more than 900 deaths,
according to a database main-
tained by Johns Hopkins Universi-
ty. Italy was the locus of the pan-
demic, with more than half of the
active cases — 1 0,590 — and the
vast m ajority o f deaths, 827.
Britain had about 500 active
cases and 10 deaths, and Ireland
had m ore than 4 0 active c ases a nd
one d eath.
Trump said Britain was exclud-
ed because it was “doing a good
job” c ontaining the virus.
But its active-case total rose by
more than 30 percent Thursday
from a day earlier.
Critics of the ban said travel
restrictions — such as those im-
posed on China early in the crisis
— no longer make sense, given
that the novel coronavirus is now
global. The energy and resources
expended on the closures would
be better spent on expanding U. S.
hospital capacity, some experts
said.
Thomas P. Bossert, a former
U.S. homeland security adviser to
Trump, also disputed the value of
flight bans.
“There’s little value to Europe-
an travel restrictions. Poor use of
time & energy,” Bossert said
Thursday on Twitter. “Earlier, yes.
Now, travel restrictions/screening
are less useful. We have nearly as
much disease here i n the US a s the
countries in Europe. We MUST
focus on layered community miti-
gation measures-Now!”
Under previous presidents, the
United States has often taken the
lead in directing coordinated
global responses to world chal-
lenges. Trump has sought to mini-
mize the virus, and he has under-
mined his scientific advisers and
blamed other countries for thepandemic. And he has also tan-
gled with European countries —
Washington’s closest allies — for
three years on issues of defense
spending, climate change and
trade.
“ Any attempt to contain the
#CoronaOutbreak is welcome, b utthe decision of @realDon-
aldTrump to exclude the UK from
a European travel ban is nothing
short of irresponsible,” former
Finnish p rime minister Alexander
Stubb wrote on Twitter. “Viruses
do not recognize borders. Deci-
sions should be b ased on f acts, n otpolitics.”
[email protected]
[email protected]birnbaum reported from brussels.
Quentin ariès in brussels, William
booth in london and rick noack in
BY JAMES MCAULEY berlin contributed to this report.
AND MICHAEL BIRNBAUMPARIS — European officials on
Thursday strongly condemned
President Trump’s decision to se-
verely restrict travel from Europe
to the United States, a move that
took them by surprise and that
many saw as p olitically m otivated.
Of all the slights between Wash-
ington a nd Europe i n recent years,
the 30-day travel restrictions —
covering non-U.S. citizens who
have been to 26 nations across
much of the European Union —
was a more stinging blow than
was felt in previous disputes. In a
short statement rare in its direct-
ness, the E.U. e xpressed d eep frus-
tration.
Trump acknowledged that the
White House did not consult Eu-
ropean leaders, m aking a compar-
ison that a ppeared to reinforce the
European views of a political di-
mension. The E.U., Trump said,
doesn’t call the White House be-
fore it raises taxes that hit U.S.
companies.
“The Coronavirus is a global
crisis, not l imited t o any continent
and it requires cooperation rather
than unilateral action,” said the
statement, which was co-signed
by E.U. Commission President Ur-
sula von der Leyen and European
Council President Charles Michel.
“The European Union disap-
proves of the fact that the U. S.
decision to impose a travel ban
was taken unilaterally and with-
out consultation,” the statement
said.
The ire from B russels was a sign
of just how little the two sides
appear to be coordinating their
response to the coronavirus pan-
demic.
“We had to make a decision, and
we didn’t want to take time,”
Trump said Thursday in the Oval
Office, explaining why the admin-
istration didn’t speak to most Eu-
ropean countries prior to the
move. He said that when E.U.
countries “raise taxes on us, they
don’t c onsult us.”
He spoke alongside Irish Prime
Minister Leo Varadkar, whose
country was spared from the ban.
Ireland has moved to c lose schools
and other public institutions tem-
porarily.
The late-night announcement
by Trump led to panic at airports
across Europe. Americans in Eu-
rope scrambled to change their
tickets onto U.S.-bound flights at
the last minute, often at premium
prices.
European countries, mean-
while, took m ore s teps intended to
fend off the novel coronavirus.
Norway invoked its “strongest
ever peacetime m easures” t o close
most public and private institu-
tions and to require travelers re-
turning from abroad to self-quar-
antine for two weeks. The Czech
Republic restricted border cross-
ings with Austria and Germany.
The Netherlands banned gather-
ings of more than 100 people. Bel-
gium closed schools and shops.
In F rance, President Emmanuel
Macron announced that all
schools and universities in the
country would be closed Monday
until further notice. He said bor-
ders will remain open and noted
that any possible frontier closures
in the future would be coordinat-
ed with the E.U.
The virus also put a halt, for
now, to negotiations over Britain’s
departure from the European
Union. Ta lks planned for next
week h ave been s crapped.
Nothing could be done, howev-
er, to prop up financial markets.
Stocks plummeted in the after-
math of the White House an-
nouncement.
In Britain, the benchmark
FTSE 100 index, which tracks the
100 largest firms on the London
Stock Exchange, was down nearly
10 percent Thursday, its lowest
level in eight years. France’s CACE.U. angry, suspicious
about abrupt travel ban
thibault camus/associated PressPassengers a t Paris -Charles de Gaulle Airport on Thursday. The
United States is sharply limiting arrivals from the European Union.
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