As President Donald Trump prepares to travel to New Jersey, White House officials are already confirming that he will not adhere to the state’s newly-incorporated quarantine order amid the accelerated spread of the coronavirus.
White House spokesman Judd Deere has released a statement to The Hill in response to questions about the president’s upcoming trip scheduled for this weekend.
According to Deere, Trump will not be adhering to the state’s travel advisory suggesting that it only applies to civilians.
“The president of the United States is not a civilian,” Deere said.
In the statement released on Thursday, Deere has also insisted that everyone working closely with the president has testing negative for the virus.
“Anyone who is in close proximity to him, including staff, guests, and press are tested for COVID-19 and confirmed to be negative,” Deere added.
The White House announcement comes as New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut are now enforcing 14-day quarantine policies for travelers arriving from states with high coronavirus infection rates.
According to the joint statement released by New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D), along with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) and Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont (D), the travel advisory is an initiative that applies to any one traveling from states “where 10% of those tested for COVID-19 came up positive on a seven day rolling average, or a state where 10 per 100,000 on a seven-day rolling average.”
“You violate the quarantine, you will have to do mandatory quarantine, and you will be fined,” Cuomo said.
Over the last two weeks, Arizona has emerged as a major hotspot for coronavirus, averaging more than 2,500 cases each day which signals a 94% increase from just one week ago. The state now falls into the category of states under the three Northeast states’ travel advisory.
Deere went on to address the concerns surrounding Trump’s recent trip to Arizona two days ago. Despite the travel advisory, Deere has insisted that the president “did not come into contact with anyone” showing symptoms of the virus.
“With regard to Arizona, the White House followed its COVID mitigation plan to ensure the President did not come into contact with anyone who was symptomatic or had not been tested,” Deere said.
He added, “Anyone traveling in support of the president this weekend will be closely monitored for symptoms and tested for COVID and therefore pose little to no risk to the local populations.”
Although Deere claims there are no coronavirus concerns regarding Trump’s recent travel, eight members of his re-election campaign staff have tested positive for coronavirus.
More than two dozen Secret Service agents are also been ordered to quarantine following Trump’s recent travels.
As of Thursday afternoon, there are more than 2.4 million coronavirus cases in the United States including more than 60,000 in Arizona and roughly 170,000 in New Jersey. The death toll is over 120,000.