After testing positive for COVID-19 last week, President Trump was hospitalized on October 2. But that didn’t stop Trump from organizing a motorcade to wave to his fans outside the hospital—potentially endangering others in the process.
On October 4, just two days after the he was hospitalized, Trump called for a motorcade to drive by the supporters who had gathered at the hospital. He was then seen in a car waving at fans along with two Secret Service agents, according to video from CNN. All three people in the car were wearing masks. But because Trump tested positive for COVID-19, the others in the car were exposed and may contract the virus.
Experts were quick to criticize Trump’s motorcade stunt, especially when it came to putting those in the car with him at risk. “Every single person in the vehicle during that completely unnecessary presidential ‘drive-by’ just now has to be quarantined for 14 days. They might get sick. They may die. For political theater. Commanded by Trump to put their lives at risk for theater,” James P. Phillips, M.D., assistant professor of emergency medicine at George Washington University Hospital, wrote on Twitter.
We know the coronavirus is most likely to spread when people spend an extended period of time in enclosed spaces, like, perhaps, inside of a car with the windows closed. That’s because the coronavirus spreads mainly via respiratory droplets, which are spread when someone who has COVID-19 coughs, talks, yells, or sneezes, SELF explained previously. If those droplets land in someone else’s nose, mouth, or eyes, that person may become infected. In high-risk situations like this, there’s also a possibility for the coronavirus to spread via smaller aerosolized particles that may linger in the air for a short amount of time.
“The risk of COVID-19 transmission inside [the car] is as high as it gets outside of medical procedures. The irresponsibility is astounding. My thoughts are with the Secret Service forced to play,” Dr. Phillips wrote on Twitter. “I feel sick for those agents,” added Esther Choo, M.D., professor of emergency medicine at Oregon Health & Science University.
Other medical experts were similarly concerned and angered. “Moments after stating ‘I learned a lot about COVID,’ the president takes a joyride in an enclosed space with presumably #COVID19 negative people, all while on experimental medications,” Craig Spencer, M.D., assistant professor of emergency medicine and population and family health at the Columbia University Medical Center, wrote on Twitter. “Why does the US have more #COVID19 cases and deaths than any other country in the world? Because the people who signed off on this are the exact same people leading our pandemic response,” he continued.
“POTUS putting the health of others at risk. His M.O. this entire pandemic,” wrote Celine Gounder, M.D., clinical assistant professor of medicine and infectious diseases at New York University’s Grossman School of Medicine, on Twitter.
The stunt undoubtedly had consequences for those in the car with Trump. Anyone who’s had close contact with someone with a confirmed case of COVID-19 should quarantine themselves for 14 days, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommend. The CDC defines “close contact” as being within six feet of someone with COVID-19 for at least 15 minutes, so even though we don’t know exactly how long those three people were in the car together, it’s likely that those who accompanied Trump on his motorcade would need to quarantine after the drive.
And those who are confirmed to have COVID-19 (including the president) are recommended to stay isolated from others—except when getting medical care—until they’re no longer contagious. If someone is admitted to the hospital with COVID-19, the CDC recommends avoiding moving the patient around as much as possible by performing certain procedures and tests in their room and using portable X-ray equipment when needed, for instance. The CDC doesn’t have specific guidelines for conducting a presidential motorcade, but based on these recommendations it certainly doesn’t seems like that would be advisable.
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