WASHINGTON / CNN The White House has declined offers from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to help investigate the recent COVID-19 outbreak that has been taking the West Wing by storm, according to a federal health official.
The offer by the CDC to help with contact tracing occurred almost immediately after the President made public that he has tested positive for coronavirus. Despite the concerns expressed by the CDC, White House officials turned down the offer to help, the official said.
The offer was repeated in a phone call Monday, according to the source.
The White House has shown little indication that it is tracing contacts from those exposed at events like the Supreme Court nomination ceremony where almost no masks were worn and there was no social distancing both at the outdoor event and indoor reception.
Some attendees said they have had no outreach and others have said, even when notified, they were not asked the slate of questions typically used to document who else may have been exposed through contact.
An administration spokesman, Judd Deere, said positive cases are taken seriously.
The White House has plans and procedures in place that incorporate current CDC guidelines and best practices for limiting COVID-19 exposure and has established a robust contact tracing program led by the White House Medical Unit with CDC integration, Deere said in a statement.
In the days following the President and first ladys diagnoses, there has been little clarity about how the White House is contact tracing those who may have been exposed at a string of events, leaving the work to the individuals themselves and ramping up the risk of exponential spread.
The White House has insisted a full contact tracing, consistent with CDC guidelines, had been conducted following Trumps New Jersey fundraiser on Thursday.