Sec. Ben Carson Tests Positive for COVID-19, Latest Trump Official to Get the Virus

Ben Carson, the House and Urban Development Secretary, has tested positive for coronavirus on November 9, according to his deputy chief of staff Coalter Baker.

Carson tests positive

Baker said in a statement that Secretary Carson has tested positive for the coronavirus. He said that Carson is in good spirits and feels fortunate to have access to effective therapeutics that aid and markedly speed his recovery.

An aide added that the 69-year-old Carson tested positive on November 9 at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center after experiencing symptoms. As of November 10, Carson has been discharged from the hospital.

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Andrew Hughes, Carson's chief of staff, disclosed the secretary's positive diagnosis in an all-staff letter. He wrote that Carson is resting at his house, and he is already beginning to feel better. Hughes also said that staff would be notified if they had contacted Carson and that all precautions are being taken.

On November 9, two sources from the White House confirmed that another member of Trump's orbit had tested positive for coronavirus. David Bossie's diagnosis came days after he was tapped to oversee the Trump campaign's legal challenges contesting the election outcome.

Carson and his wife went to an election night party. That is the same party that White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and nearly every other official and staff who attended were not wearing a mask. Meadows and four others in President Trump's orbit had tested positive for coronavirus last week.

Ben Carson, a retired neurosurgeon and a member of the White House coronavirus task force, was spotted without any mask at several Trump campaign events in the lead up to Election Day on November 3, including a Trump campaign rally in Waterford Township, Michigan, on October 30.

First report

ABC News was the first one to report about Carson's coronavirus diagnosis. Social media posts by Carson and several Trump supporters indicate that the Housing Secretary was traveling to campaign for President Trump in the southeast before November 3.

Posts from Black Voices for Trump indicate that Carson and his wife, Candy, traveled to events in Georgia and Florida before the election. Masks were largely unworn during the said events. The Carsons were also photographed without masks, and they were shoulder-to-shoulder with Trump supporters.

On November 1, a Facebook post from the Carson stated that they have attended many political events in their personal capacities over the past few days. The new set of positive coronavirus diagnoses within President Trump's orbit comes after Trump's own diagnosis.

After Mark Meadows and four other staffers tested positive just last week, President Trump's campaign staffers told CNN that they were angry that the campaign never told them about the positive cases among staff. Meadows had been in the office multiple times without wearing a mask.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or CDC says the risk of severe illness from COVID-19 increases as individuals get older, and that 8 out of 10 deaths related to COVID-19 reported in the United States has been among adults aged 65 and older.