CNN White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins criticized White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany for not quarantining after she had been in contact with adviser Hope Hicks, who tested positive for coronavirus on “Newsroom,” Monday.
Reacting to the news McEnany tested positive, Collins said, “We’re now seeing how many people tested positive and the list is continuing to grow. While we obviously wish Kayleigh McEnany well and that she has a speedy recovery from coronavirus, this is a sign of how the White House thinks that the rules do not apply to them. Kayleigh McEnany was told on Thursday that Hope Hicks had tested positive and that she was someone who was considered to have direct contact with Hope Hicks. However, she did not quarantine as is recommended if you have come into sustained contact with someone who’s tested positive, and instead, she relied on negative tests that she took every single day and continued to come to work. As she did on Friday when she gaggled with reporters outside without a mask. As she did yesterday as she gaggled with reporters very briefly for two minutes but still once again taking her mask off as she was approaching the microphone. And it shows this level of recklessness inside the White House where she is relying on having these negative tests, as you’ve seen several other officials as well, despite the fact that she did come into contact with someone that we now know is positive. Actually, two people because she was also obviously around President Trump as well and Hope Hicks.”
She continued, “So it just goes to show how the White House has responded to this when everyone else if you had come into contact with someone who had tested positive and you were told you were in direct contact, you would go in quarantine. She chose not to do that as have several other officials as well. It’s not just raising concerns about how we’re seeing how prolific this outbreak is in the West Wing and in the president’s inner circle but also how they’re responding to it and how they are not doing what medical experts advised.”
She added, “Instead of quarantining like they were told to do or like they were advised to do by the CDC guidelines, they instead believe that a negative test grants them immunity from coronavirus, and what we are seeing with Kayleigh McEnany testing positive shows that it doesn’t.”
Anchor John King said, “It is as you put it, it’s reckless behavior.”
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