The official said the number of quarantined agents is on the “low” side of dozens. A Secret Service official said the quarantining will not impact the agency’s operations.
A US Secret Service source who worked advance for Saturday’s rally and is now quarantining told CNN that agents from Dallas and Houston worked the event as well, and they had been warned before the trip from those field offices that they would need to quarantine when they got home.
The step comes after two Secret Service agents who attended the rally tested positive for coronavirus, a person familiar with matter previously told CNN.
“The U.S. Secret Service remains prepared and staffed to fulfill all of the various duties as required. Any implication that the agency is in some way unprepared or incapable of executing our mission would be inaccurate,” US Secret Service spokesperson Catherine Milhoan told CNN in a statement Wednesday evening.
“To protect the privacy of our employees’ health information and for operational security, the Secret Service is not releasing how many of its employees have tested positive for COVID-19, nor how many of its employees were, or currently are, quarantined,” she continued.
Attendees at the rally were not required to wear masks or practice social distancing, despite the administration’s top public health officials stressing the importance of both measures in preventing the spread of coronavirus.
Several administration officials at the rally did not wear masks, though campaign manager Brad Parscale was seen in one.
Those attending the rally had to agree not to sue the campaign if they contracted coronavirus, acknowledging the “inherent risk of exposure to COVID-19 exists in any public place where people are present.”
“By attending the Rally, you and any guests voluntarily assume all risks related to exposure to COVID-19 and agree not to hold Donald J. Trump for President, Inc.; BOK Center; ASM Global; or any of their affiliates, directors, officers, employees, agents, contractors, or volunteers liable for any illness or injury,” read the disclaimer to which attendees agreed.
CNN’s Kate Bennett, Ryan Nobles, Donald Judd and Kate Sullivan contributed to this report.
Source : Nbcnewyork
