Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson has tested positive for COVID-19. Carson joins a growing list of political elites who have tested positive for the virus within the last two months. Most notably, President Donald Trump, Melania Trump and more than a dozen others tested positive for the virus after attending an event at the White House's Rose Garden in September. More recently, White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows tested positive for the virus during election week along with "several" other West Wing staffers. Both Meadows and Carson attended an indoor gathering at the White House on election night that is now being described as a "super spreader" event.
"Secretary Carson has tested positive for the coronavirus," Carson's Chief of Staff Coalter Baker said.
"He is in good spirits and feels fortunate to have access to effective therapeutics which aid and markedly speed his recovery."
Carson is one of more than 50 million people to test positive for the deadly virus. Recently, the United States has seen a large spike in positive COVID-19 tests. Within the last two weeks, the country has set its single day record for confirmed COVID-19 tests three times. Moreover, 40 states are experiencing increases in confirmed coronavirus cases.
Despite the recent spike in COVID-19 cases, President Donald Trump has downplayed the spread of the virus. In the weeks leading up to the election, the President held several rallies with large crowds of people not wearing masks or social distancing.
President Trump's response to the virus appears to be drastically different from that of President-Elect Joe Biden. After assuming his new role over the weekend, Biden put together his COVID-19 task force. He also addressed the pandemic during his first speech as President-Elect.
“Dealing with the coronavirus pandemic is one of the most important battles our administration will face, and I will be informed by science and by experts,” he said.
Moving forward, the country and Carson will continue to battle the coronavirus as it appears developers are still weeks, if not months, away from making a vaccine available to the public.
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