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Brazilian Official Who Met with Trump in South Florida Tests Positive for Coronavirus

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Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro | Brazilian Official Who Met with Trump in South Florida Tests Positive for Coronavirus | Featured

Mar. 13–Brazil announced Thursday that its president's press secretary — who recently spent four days in South Florida with a delegation headed by President Jair Bolsonaro — had tested positive for the coronavirus, setting off immediate ripples that reached from South Florida to Washington, D.C.

By day's end Thursday, the mayors of Miami-Dade County and the City of Miami and U.S. Sens. Rick Scott and Lindsey Graham had announced they would self-quarantine, as well as the Miami Police Department's entire motorcycle patrol unit that escorted Bolsonaro; the medical campus of Miami Dade College said it was shutting down “until further notice”– and questions arose whether President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, who spent time last weekend with Bolsonaro and the press secretary at Mar-a-Lago, should be tested for the virus.Trump said he wasn't worried about the news from Brazil.

“I did hear something about that,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “We had dinner together in Florida, at Mar-a-Lago, with the entire delegation. I don't know if the press aide was there. If he was there, he was there. But we did nothing very unusual.”

The White House said in a statement that “the President and Vice President had almost no interactions with the individual who tested positive and do not require being tested at this time.”

Fabio Wajngarten, Bolsonaro's press secretary who tested positive for the coronavirus, posted on Instagram a picture in which he's standing close to Trump and Pence, who is in charge of the U.S. coronavirus task force, in Mar-a-Lago.

But the White House said that Wajngarten's positive results still needed confirmation and cited the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines discouraging testing patients without symptoms and mandating quarantines only for people with “prolonged close exposure to confirmed positive cases.”

Then more disquieting news came from Brazil Thursday afternoon: Bolsonaro, who spent time with Trump, Pence and other federal and local officials, was tested for the coronavirus himself. Results will be available Friday, the Brazilian newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo reported.

Bolsonaro's son, Eduardo Bolsonaro, confirmed the news on Twitter.

“Bolsonaro has been tested for coronavirus and we are waiting for the results,” he wrote in English. “However, he is not exhibiting any symptoms of the disease.”

The Brazilian embassy in Washington declined to comment.

Brazil's Office of the Presidency said a medical team was taking “all preventive measures” to preserve Bolsonaro's health. The statement said the Brazilian government was also in contact with the U.S. government “so they can also take the necessary measures.” And staff from Bolsonaro's team were to meet on Thursday afternoon to decide on a plan to test officials who were part of the delegation that traveled to Florida, O Estado reported.

Bolsonaro, Wajngarten and other top Brazilian government officials visited South Florida earlier this week and met with Trump, Pence and Florida Sens. Marco Rubio and Scott, along with other local elected officials.

The newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo said Wednesday in a column that Wajngarten, Bolsonaro's top communication official, was tested for the virus after he started exhibiting symptoms when he returned to Brazil.

On Thursday morning, the newspaper reported that Sophie Wajngarten, the wife of Wajngarten, said on a WhatsApp message group that her husband had tested positive for the coronavirus. Then the Health Ministry and the president's office confirmed it.

As press secretary, Wajngarten “was part of the presidential visit and was in all events,” Alexandre Brasil da Silva, a press officer at the Brazilian foreign ministry, told the Miami Herald.

Bolsonaro's four-day visit to Florida began with a dinner at Mar-a-Lago on Saturday with Trump, followed by a visit to the U.S. Southern Command headquarters in Doral on Sunday.

It is unclear whether Wajngarten was also present in private meetings with Rubio and Scott, Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez and Miami Mayor Francis Suarez during a business seminar at the Hilton Downtown in Miami on Monday. All but Rubio have already said they will isolate themselves.

Suarez learned of the news just before Thursday's City Commission meeting adjourned around noon. After calling the county health department, Suarez told the Herald he had been advised to self-quarantine for two weeks.

“I don't have any symptoms. They recommend self-quarantine. If I have any symptoms, I'll certainly get tested, just like anybody else would,” he said. “But I'm not certain the guy was in the room with me or that I had any contact with him.”

The City of Miami's 21-member motorcycle squad will self-quarantine, after having escorted Bolsonaro in Miami, Police Chief Jorge Colina said.

“It's out of an abundance of caution,” Colina said. “They were in contact during photo-ops or might have shaken hands.”

Sen. Scott also said he would voluntarily self-quarantine, after he was notified by the Brazilian embassy in the U.S. that Wajngarten had tested positive.

“While I do not believe I interacted with the infected person, that individual was in the same room as me,” Scott said in a statement.

According to Scott's statement, the embassy said the Brazilian press secretary had no symptoms leading up to or the day of the conference. The Senate's attending physician and his personal doctor told Scott his risk is low and that he didn't need to take a test or self-quarantine.

“However, the health and safety of the American people is my focus, and I have made the decision to self-quarantine in an abundance of caution,” Scott announced.

Rubio's office said the senator had decided to continue “monitoring this situation,” but his office said he was advised that “there is no medical or public health reason for him to self-quarantine or be tested at this time.”

Rubio had no interaction with Bolsonaro's press secretary, “and he did not attend the private reception in Miami at which this individual was reportedly present,” his office said.

Gimenez said Thursday morning no one had notified him about any coronavirus concerns from his shaking hands with Bolsonaro on Monday. He said he didn't think he had any contact with Bolsonaro's press aide.

He entered self-quarantine Thursday afternoon and headed home to await word from Florida health authorities on whether he needs to be tested for COVID-19, communications director Myriam Marquez said in an email.

Doral Councilwoman Claudia Mariaca had also self-quarantined since Wednesday night “following an event that took place Monday afternoon in which she briefly had contact with Brazilian President, Jair Bolsonaro, to take a photo,” the city of Doral said in a statement in the afternoon. She had no contact with the Brazilian press secretary, the statement added.

The U.S. Southern Command, which Bolsonaro and his team visited Sunday, said it has no suspected or confirmed COVID-19 cases and that its commander, U.S. Navy Adm. Craig Faller, has not experienced any symptoms. He has not been tested.

“We have taken immediate actions to account for all personnel who supported the Brazilian president's visit,” the Southern Command said in a statement. “At present, our medical professionals are working with the U.S. Embassy in Brazil, the Florida Department of Health and other health officials to individually contact each person who was present to conduct an assessment of the risk of exposure” based on CDC guidelines.

Others might be at risk, too.

On Monday, Bolsonaro gave a speech to around 200 hundred people at a business seminar in downtown Miami. The Herald has confirmed Wajngarten was at the seminar. Bolsonaro's team also met with members of the Brazilian community at the Miami Dade College medical campus. His public agenda also included another business event and a visit to a Jacksonville facility of the Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer on Tuesday.

Miami Dade College announced Thursday that it was canceling all events and classes at its medical campus, located at 950 NW 20th St. A college spokesman confirmed that Wajngarten was part of the team that met with members of the Brazilian community at the campus Monday evening.

Miami Herald staff writers Joey Flechas, Bianca Padró Ocasio, Douglas Hanks and Colleen Wright, and McClatchy correspondent Tara Copp contributed to this report.

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(c)2020 Miami Herald

Visit Miami Herald at www.miamiherald.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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