Former White House counsellor Kellyanne Conway announced Friday night that she has tested positive for coronavirus, the latest major political figure to say they have COVID-19 after attending a Rose Garden event last Saturday where U.S. President Donald Trump announced his Supreme Court pick.
“Tonight I tested positive for COVID-19. My symptoms are mild (light cough) and I’m feeling fine. I have begun a quarantine process in consultation with physicians,” Conway tweeted. “As always, my heart is with everyone affected by this global pandemic.”
Conway is now the sixth person who attended the event last week, where masks and social distancing were rare, known to have subsequently tested positive. President Donald Trump, first lady Melania Trump, top Trump aide Hope Hicks, Republican Utah Sen. Mike Lee, Republican North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis and University of Notre Dame President the Rev. John Jenkins are all confirmed to be positive for COVID-19.
Many of the guests for Trump’s announcement that he was nominating Judge Amy Coney Barrett arrived at the event with masks on, but as the Rose Garden event got underway, masks were virtually nonexistent.
Some of the Trump administration’s top health officials, as well as other attendees, were seen not wearing masks or social distancing at the highest-profile event at the White House since the Republican National Convention in August.
Seats for guests in the White House Rose Garden also did not appear spaced apart the recommended six feet, CNN reporters observed.
This is a breaking story and will be updated.
