President Donald Trump Says 'I Decided I Should' Take a Coronavirus Test and Is Awaiting Results
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President Donald Trump announced he has been tested for the novel coronavirus and expects to receive results within a few days.
“I took the test last night. I decided I should based on the press conference yesterday, people were asking ‘Did I take the test?’ ” he said during a press briefing on Saturday.
While the president shared he does not know how long it will take for him to get back the results, he said they have been “sent to a lab.”
When Trump, who took his temperature before the press conference, was exiting the briefing, he was asked if his temperature was normal. “Totally normal,” the president responded.
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Vice President Mike Pence, who is leading the coronavirus task force, also spoke, giving an update about travel restrictions.
“The president just foreshadowed in our task force meeting today, the president has made a decision to suspend all travel to the United Kingdom and Ireland effective midnight Monday night, eastern standard time,” he said. “As the president just suggested, all of our health experts presented information, Dr. Fauci will reflect on some of those numbers, made a unanimous decision to the president that we suspend all travel from the UK and Ireland that will be effective midnight Monday night eastern standard time. Again, Americans in the U.K. or Ireland can come home, legal residents can come home, but as the secretary will detail they will be funneled through specific airports and processed.”
In addition, Chad Wolf, acting Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, told reporters that travelers from the U.K. and Ireland “will undergo some medical screening and some other questions when they arrive and then they will be asked to self-quarantine for 14 days when they arrive.”
Trump has not shown symptoms associated with the novel coronavirus and does not require quarantining at this time, according to the White House doctor who spoke out on Friday.
Despite coming into contact with two infected individuals, White House physician, Navy Cmdr. Sean Conley shared in a memorandum that “testing for COVID-19 is not currently indicated” as Trump “remains without symptoms.”
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According to Conley, Trump, 73, “briefly came in contact” with Fabio Wajngarten, the communications director for Bolsonaro, who showed symptoms three days after meeting with the president last weekend at a diplomatic dinner in Palm Beach, Florida, PEOPLE previously reported.
Wajngarten later tested positive for the virus, Conley confirmed.
On Friday, the White House became aware of “another dinner guest,” Nestor Forster, “who was symptom-free until this morning and has since tested positive for COVD-19.”
RELATED: Brazilian Diplomat Nestor Forster, Who Had Dinner with Donald Trump, Tests Positive for Coronavirus
Conley explained that while Trump’s exposure to Wajngarten was “in closer proximity to the second case,” his interactions with the diplomats “occurred before any symptom onset.”
“These interactions would be categorized as LOW risk for transmission per CDC guidelines, and as such, there is no indication for home quarantine at this time,” Conley shared.
While the president remains without symptoms, Conley said he will “continue to monitor and care for the President and will update you as more information becomes available.”
In an effort to combat cases of COVID-19, all reporters attending the White House press briefing on Saturday were required to have their temperature’s checked before being allowed into the building.
According to CNN, one journalist was denied after he was recorded to have a 99.9 fever.
Appearing alongside Trump at a Friday afternoon news conference, during which he declared a national emergency over the novel coronavirus pandemic, Pence called on Americans to use “common sense” in addressing the virus’ spread.
“I encourage everyone to follow these guidelines by the CDC. A lot of it is common sense,” Trump echoed at one point from the podium, even as he repeatedly shook hands with attendees — which officials have warned against.
As of March 14, there have been at least 2,195 confirmed cases of coronavirus and 49 deaths in the United States, according to The New York Times.
Several states have declared a state of emergency to redirect funding, and public schools in Ohio, Maryland, New Mexico, Michigan, Oregon and the District of Columbia have closed in response.