Despite national security concerns and Secretary of Defense Mark Esper's recent close contact with President Donald Trump, who has now tested positive for COVID-19 and has "mild symptoms," the Department of Defense says there are "no changes in DoD alert levels."
Trump tweeted early Friday morning that both he and First Lady Melania Trump tested positive for the virus. White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said late Friday morning that the president had "mild symptoms" and was being cared for.
"I fully expect that as this virus continues to go on other people in the White House will certainly have a positive test result and we’ve got the mitigation plan in place to make sure the government not only continues to move forward but the work of the American people continues to move forward," Meadows said, according to a White House pool report.
In a statement Friday morning, the Pentagon confirmed that both Esper and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley last met with the president on Sunday at the White House Gold Star Families event. Both have since tested negative.
Both Esper and Milley tested negative for COVID-19 following the White House event. Esper last tested negative on Sept. 30, Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said in a statement. Milley was tested Friday morning and was negative.
Several other top generals have since undergone testing to determine whether they are infected with the virus, as first reported by Military.com.
"There’s been no change to DoD alert levels. The US military stands ready to defend our country and interests," the statement continued. "There’s no change to the readiness or capability of our armed forces. Our national command and control structure is in no way affected by this announcement."
Esper is traveling internationally and "will not be returning the U.S. early," Hoffman said.
Reports emerged Friday of E-6B aircraft on alert status, but Hoffman said those aircraft were participating in "pre-planned missions" and "any timing to the president's announcement was purely coincidental."
Former Vice President Joe Biden and his wife tested negative on Friday, according to Biden's campaign, as first reported by the Associated Press.
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