Pennsylvania Republican ‘informed of positive Covid result while in meeting with Trump’
Pennsylvania State Senator Doug Mastriano speaks at a public hearing on Donald Trump’s baseless allegations of voter fraud on 25 November
(EPA)A Pennsylvania state senator found out he had tested positive for coronavirus while he was in a meeting with Donald Trump, after which he left the meeting abruptly, according to US media reports.
A Republican state senator from Pennsylvania, Doug Mastriano was part of a meeting in the White House on Wednesday with other politicians when he was seen abruptly leaving halfway through.
Mr Mastriano found out about the infection shortly after he helped host a four-hour-plus public meeting in Gettysburg – without a mask – where he discussed the efforts to overturn the election results in favour of Donald Trump.
The president told Mr Mastriano that White House medical personnel would take care of him, his son and his son’s friend, who were also there for the Oval Office meeting and tested positive, sources told the Associated Press. The meeting continued after Mr Mastriano and the others left.
AP said its source spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the private session because the matter is politically sensitive.
“The president instantly called the White House doctor in and he took them back to, I guess, the medical place,” the person said. The meeting with Mr Trump was to strategise about efforts regarding the election, the person said.
Dozens of White House staffers, senior politicians and the president and his family themselves have tested positive for coronavirus in the past few months. Mr Trump later claimed repeatedly that he was “immune”, despite several studies showing the possibility of reinfection.
All participants in Wednesday's meeting took Covid-19 tests, but the positive results were not announced until they were in the West Wing of the White House, the person said.
Positive coronavirus cases are surging across the United States and the nation's top infectious disease expert said on Sunday that the US may see “surge upon surge” in the coming weeks.
The number of new Covid-19 cases reported in the US topped 200,000 for the first time on Friday. The US continues to be the world’s worst-affected country in the world with more than 14 million infections and 266,000 deaths.
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