US stepping up protection of Trump, Pence
Gov. Inslee extends Washington state`stay-at-home` order through May 4
Gov. Jay Inslee has extended the statewide "stay-at-home" order through May 4 in an effort to combat the spread of COVID-19.The order, issued on March 23, initially was set to last through April 6, with non-essential businesses to stay closed through April 8. The governor said Thursday that "more people will die if we stop now."
WASHINGTON — The White House is stepping up precautions to protect the president and vice president from contracting the new coronavirus.
Starting Friday, anyone who is expected to be in “close proximity” to either President Donald Trump or Vice President Mike Pence will be given a quick COVID-19 test “to evaluate for pre-symptomatic or asymptomatic carriers status to limit inadvertent transmission.”
That’s according to White House spokesman Judd Deere.
All visitors to the White House complex already have their temperatures taken when entering the building and if they will be in close proximity to either Trump or Pence.
Trump took the new COVID-19 test on Thursday and the White House doctor said results were back in 15 minutes. He tested negative.
A first look at recent U.S. death certificate data confirms that most of the initial American coronavirus deaths were people age 65 and older. But it also notes that about 1 in 5 were middle-aged.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention posted the data online Friday. It reflects 1,150 U.S. coronavirus deaths that occurred through the last week of March. That tally is several hundreds deaths lower than other totals reported for the same period, because it relies on death certificate information which can come in weeks after other kinds of reports.
The new data says 56% of deaths were people 75 and older, and another 23% were people in their late 60s and early 70s. But another 17% were ages 45 to 64, and 3% were 35 to 44. The statistics were smaller for younger adults. One child died.