Doctors, Trump's Secret Service calling car ride around Walter Reed to greet supporters 'reckless'
Many are saying that when President Donald Trump chose to leave Walter Reed Hospital on Sunday during his treatment for COVID-19 to greet his supporters, he was being "reckless" and put his Secret Service detail directly in harms' way.
Dr. James P. Phillips, an attending physician at Walter Reed, tweeted that everybody in the vehicle with Trump should be quarantined for 14 days.
"They might get sick. They may die," he tweeted. "For political theater. Commanded by Trump to put their lives at risk for theater. This is insanity."
Every single person in the vehicle during that completely unnecessary Presidential "drive-by" just now has to be quarantined for 14 days. They might get sick. They may die. For political theater. Commanded by Trump to put their lives at risk for theater. This is insanity.
— Dr. James P. Phillips, MD (@DrPhillipsMD) October 4, 2020
That Presidential SUV is not only bulletproof, but hermetically sealed against chemical attack. The risk of COVID19 transmission inside is as high as it gets outside of medical procedures. The irresponsibility is astounding. My thoughts are with the Secret Service forced to play.
— Dr. James P. Phillips, MD (@DrPhillipsMD) October 4, 2020
Several Secret Service members spoke to the Washington Post anonymously.
"He's not even pretending to care now," one agent told The Washington Post.
Another unidentified agent who works with the president and first lady told CNN, "That should never have happened... The frustration with how we're treated when it comes to decisions on this illness goes back before this though. We're not disposable."
University of Minnesota infectious disease researcher Michael Osterholm, who's been among the national leaders when it comes to dealing with the coronavirus, is speaking out against President Trump's decision to leave isolation and drive by supporters in a sealed-in vehicle.
"If I had to pick the worst-case scenario to try to transmit the virus to somebody in an intentional basis, I would plan exactly what they did," Osterholm told Dave Lee on the WCCO Morning News, adding that he's not alleging any kind of devious plot to purposely sicken secret service agents.
