U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson tested positive Monday for COVID-19, according to multiple reports.
Citing Carson’s deputy chief of staff, ABC News reported the 69-year-old was “in good spirits” after his diagnosis.
NEWS: Sec. Ben Carson tested positive for COVID-19 this morning. His deputy chief of staff says he's "in good spirits & feels fortunate to have access to effective therapeutics which aid and markedly speed his recovery." Carson attended the election night party at the White House
— Katherine Faulders (@KFaulders) November 9, 2020
Carson attended Tuesday’s election night watch party at the White House alongside other members of President Donald Trump’s cabinet, Bloomberg News reported. Unidentified aides told PBS News that they were concerned that the party might become a so-called “superspreader” event as the coronavirus pandemic continues worldwide.
Tuesday’s event was attended by Trump’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows, who has since tested positive for COVID-19. The White House has repeatedly refused to say who else has tested positive; however, officials told The Associated Press that a top Trump campaign official and a handful of White House staff members tested positive for COVID-19 after the party.
>> Related: Mark Meadows, White House chief of staff, tests positive for coronavirus
The diagnoses came one month after President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump announced they had tested positive for COVID-19. The president was hospitalized for three days of treatment at Walter Reed Medical Center and later released.
Trump’s diagnosis came after he and several other officials attended a White House celebration for the nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court in late September. Videos and photos of the event showed that social distancing measures weren’t put into place and masks were not required.
Several other officials at the event later tested positive for COVID-19, including White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany and presidential adviser Stephen Miller.
The U.S. continues to lead the world with the most number of coronavirus cases of any nation and the highest number of deaths. As of Monday, more than 9.9 million people nationwide have been diagnosed with the viral infection and over 237,000 people have died, according to numbers compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
Globally, more than 50.5 million cases of COVID-19 have been reported, causing over 1.2 million deaths.
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