Trump flip-flops on question of receiving a novel coronavirus test

While at Mar-a-Lago last week, President Trump took a picture. In it, he’s standing next to Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s press secretary, who later tested positive for the novel coronavirus. Two senators who were also at Mar-a-Lago are self-quarantining. Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, who also interacted with the aide, tested positive for the virus.

Trump, however, maintained at a press conference today that he does not have to quarantine. “I take pictures, and it lasts for literally seconds. I don’t know the gentleman that we’re talking about is. I have no idea who he is,” he said.

Trump then said he did not need to be tested and that doctors should not be jumping to recommend tests unless they were absolutely necessary. When pressed by CBS News reporter Weijia Jiang on if refusing a test was selfish, though, Trump backtracked. “I didn’t say I wasn’t going to be tested,” he said. “Not for that reason, but because I think I will do it anyway.

” He said that they’re working out a schedule, without specifying who he meant by “they. ” Trump is 73 years old. Were he to become infected with the virus, he would be at risk of having a severe case of COVID-19.