The Interior Department said Wednesday Secretary David Bernhardt has COVID-19 — making him the third top official at the agency to test positive since November. Also testing positive Wednesday was South Carolina Republican Congressmember Joe Wilson, who announced his infection just hours after speaking from the House floor.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has canceled his last major holiday party at the State Department and will enter quarantine, following close contact with a person who tested positive for COVID-19. Pompeo and his wife have been hosting indoor gatherings for hundreds of people at the State Department, flouting CDC guidelines.
This comes as Trump adviser Chris Christie urged Americans to wear masks, citing his hospitalization with severe COVID-19 in October after a superspreader event at the White House. Christie posted this video to his Twitter account Wednesday.
Chris Christie: “You know, lying in isolation in ICU for seven days, I thought about how wrong I was to remove my mask at the White House. Today, I think about how wrong it is to let mask-wearing divide us, especially as we now know you’re twice as likely to get COVID-19 if you don’t wear a mask, because if you don’t do the right thing, we could all end up on the wrong side of history.”