Breaking news: Trump recently met with the Brazilian President, Jair Bolsonaro, in Florida. And shortly after, Bolsonaro’s communications director was diagnosed with COVID-19.
On Thursday, the Brazilian government confirmed that communications director Fábio Wajngarten has tested positive for the novel coronavirus, which has been declared a global pandemic.
The Brazilian government confirmed that the primary concern was to secure the health of the president and other top cabinet members while quarantining Wajngarten. While Wednesday the communications director denied that he was in poor health, responding to claims he’d been tested for the virus, on Thursday the test was confirmed to be positive.
As a result, Wajngarten is under self-quarantine in his home. In the meantime, testing for other Brazilian politicians is underway.
Notably, Wajngarten traveled with Bolsonaro over the weekend to meet with Trump. They met at the president’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. Additionally, there is a photograph showing that Trump shook Wajngarten’s hand on Saturday.
Trump responded to reporters Thursday, stating that “We had dinner in Florida at Mar-a-Lago with the entire delegation. I don’t know if the press aide was there. But we did nothing very unusual.”
The president was accompanied by former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, daughter Ivanka and son Jared Kushner.
The Brazilian president was also accompanied by his own son, Eduardo, and foreign minister Ernesto Araujo. The president and the White House have both repeatedly ignored questions about the development of this story.
They have not said whether any of the senior cabinet members will be tested for the virus. We don’t know if any of them plan to self-quarantine.
Rick Scott, the governor of Florida, has announced he is self-quarantining after meeting Bolsonaro. Scott says that while his risk of infection is low, he is operating out of an abundance of caution.
Despite the administration’s claims to the contrary, the COVID-19 pandemic seems completely out of their control.
Trump has privately railed against the headlines about the disease, according to those close to him, feeling as though it is unfair that he can exert little control over the virus. Trump is also a notorious germaphobe and is constantly seeking flu symptom relief.
Wednesday, Trump announced a ban on travel. People and goods from Europe cannot come back to the US at the moment. This led to a tumble in stock futures, as the US Stock Market has been struggling with the pandemic.
