BOISE, Idaho — Much of the country woke up to news Friday that President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania tested positive for COVID-19. This, after an aide contracted the virus just days before.
Dr. Robert Cavagnol is the Executive Medical Director for St. Lukes Clinic. He says contact tracing is now playing a key role in finding out who else may have been infected.
“[Contact Tracing] is taking a look at all the people who have been in contact with him recently and evaluating their risk, certainly being within close proximity with him and if they were unmasked would put them at elevated risk,” Cavagnol explained.
The White House says Judge Amy Coney Barrett, the president's Supreme Court nominee, was last in contact with the President on Saturday. She's tested negative for the virus, but just a few days ago, both Idaho senators Mike Crapo and Jim Risch also met with the SCOTUS nominee.
“He has no symptoms. Recently tested and was negative,” a spokesperson for Sen. Crapo’s office emailed KTVB.
In a statement, Sen. Risch's office told KTVB, "he is healthy and fit and … free from any symptoms and continues to follow all health guidelines."
“It's a little bit of a complicated puzzle to figure out who are all of the people at risk for contracting the virus, what is their level of risk and then first what is done is testing those highest-risk people and then if they test positive obviously you need to test that larger circle of people who have been in contact with them,” Cavagnol said.
He added just because someone spent time with the president and tested negative for COVID-19, depending on how much time they spent with President Trump and how close they were to him they should still quarantine for the safety of others.