Supreme Court Justice Nomination Ceremony suspected as the source of SARS-CoV-2 transmission, 6 participants diagnosed

Report by : Gan Yung Chyan. KUCINTA SETIA

Image : After Trump was diagnosed, another 6 people who had attended the nomination ceremony of Supreme Court justices were diagnosed, making the event on that day a source of SARS-CoV-2 transmission. (White House flickr picture)

US President Trump and White House senior adviser Hope Hicks confirmed the diagnosis of the new coronavirus on 2 October 2020. According to Ming Pao, so far, 9 people who have been in close contact with them have tested positive for the virus, and 6 of them have attended the ceremony in the Rose Garden of the White House to nominate Barrett (Amy Coney Barrett) as the Justice of the Federal Supreme Court on 26 September 2020 (last Saturday).

Among the attendees that day, in addition to the first lady Melania, Republican Senator Mike Lee of Utah, Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina, University of Notre Dame's principal, John Jenkins, former White House adviser Kellyanne Conway, and a reporter specializing in interviews with White House news were also diagnosed. Barrett, the protagonist of the day, said that the test result was negative, but the "Capitol Hill" quoted an insider as saying that Barrett had been infected earlier this year.

According to the live video and photos of the nomination ceremony, more than 180 people attended the ceremony, but most of them did not wear masks, and the seats did not maintain a social distance of 6 feet apart, and many attendees did not chat with each other nor maintain safe distancing.

Three other people did not attend the Barrett nomination ceremony but were diagnosed after contacting Trump, including Ronna McDaniel, chairman of the Republican National Convention, and two White House reporters.

Ref : https://news.mingpao.com/ins/%e5%9c%8b%e9%9a%9b/article/20201003/s00005/1601710427390/%e7%89%b9%e6%9c%97%e6%99%ae%e7%a2%ba%e8%a8%ba-%e6%9c%80%e9%ab%98%e6%b3%95%e9%99%a2%e5%a4%a7%e6%b3%95%e5%ae%98%e6%8f%90%e5%90%8d%e5%84%80%e5%bc%8f%e7%96%91%e7%82%ba%e6%92%ad%e6%af%92%e6%ba%90%e9%a0%ad-6%e5%87%ba%e5%b8%ad%e8%80%85%e7%a2%ba%e8%a8%ba