Who infected President Trump? This genetics tool could easily pinpoint the source

Meanwhile, the cluster continues to grow, as a Federal Emergency Management Agency memo reported October 7 that so far, 34 White House staffers, housekeepers, and "other contacts" have been infected with the coronavirus, along with the president, the First Lady, a Navy admiral, and a number of campaign aides.But Trump and his cadre may have been exposed before the Barrett ceremony, given social distancing and mask wearing aren’t always practiced at their campaign events. That’s why 10 local health departments in the capital region—including the District of Columbia’s—took the unusual step of issuing an open letter imploring all White House staff and Rose Garden attendees to seek medical advice and take a COVID-19 test.With viral sequencing, “specimens need to be collected while people are still actively infected,” Michaud explains. The study also found that 80 percent of the sequences descended from European variants, suggesting the travel ban on China did nothing to stop the early spread of the disease in Arizona.If White House officials decide to use genetic sequencing, as experts have called for, they could better determine how to stop the virus from spreading among the country’s political leaders.In the case of the 12 positive cases from the Rose Garden event, a genomics survey could determine how to conduct contact tracing. But Marm Kilpatrick, an infectious disease researcher at the University of California, Santa Cruz, says the important thing for people to learn from this situation is that you can’t just assume you’re fine after a negative result.This lesson is illustrated by how the coronavirus bypassed health surveillance for one of the most secure buildings in the United States—and why potential contacts of the Rose Garden outbreak need to isolate for up to 14 days whether they test positive or not.The White House was relying on rapid tests from Abbott Laboratories, which were given emergency clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use on people who have exhibited symptoms for up to seven days. The point is especially relevant to the President’s ability to safely resume public appearances.So with the limits of testing and in the absence of contact tracing for the Rose Garden event, Kilpatrick says, it's valuable for White House guests to remember that “a negative test result doesn’t make your risk of transmission zero—and that’s what Trump was relying on.”All things considered, Kilpatrick says, “People have asked why Trump got infected.