White House refused to trace COVID infections after Amy Coney Barret's potential super-spreader event: report

Nine days after the White House Rose Garden nomination announcement and celebration of Judge Amy Coney Barrett as President Donald Trump's third Supreme Court nominee at least 11 Trump associates have tested positive for COVID-19.

Reporters, including at least one of the three who were present covering the event and became infected, were surprised that they had received no call from the White House or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to attempt any contact tracing, or notify them they should quarantine after coming in close contact with attendees who tested positive for the deadly virus.

Now The New York Times reports that the White House will not perform any contact tracing, and will not notify any attendees to self-quarantine. The CDC has been ordered to not perform any contact tracing as well, despite that it is the government agency best prepared to perform the important function.

The White House "has limited its efforts to notifying people who came in close contact with Mr. Trump in the two days before his Covid diagnosis Thursday evening. It has also cut the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which has the government's most extensive knowledge and resources for contact tracing, out of the process.

"The Times calls contact tracing "an essential piece of any outbreak investigation," and "a key to stopping the virus from spreading further, especially after a potential 'super spreader' event where many people may have been infected."

New York Times White House correspondent and CNN political analyst Michael Shear, who became infected after covering the event, says "nobody from the White House has said 'boo.'"