REVEALED: 881 Secret Service employees - including 447 agents in the president and VP's security details - tested positive for COVID in 12 months from March 2020
Roughly 900 U.S. Secret Service employees tested positive for the coronavirus, according to government records obtained by a government watchdog group.
Secret Service records show that 881 people on the agency payroll were diagnosed with COVID-19 between March 1, 2020 and March 9, 2021, according to documents obtained by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington .
The records received through a Freedom of Information Act request did not include the names or assignments of those who tested positive.
But more than half - 477 - worked in the special agent division, which is responsible for protecting the president and vice president, as well as the families of these leaders and other government officials.
249 members of the uniformed division, 131, administrative staff, 12 Investigative Protection Officers and 12 Technical Security Investigators also tested positive, according to the data.
Roughly 900 U.S. Secret Service employees tested positive for the coronavirus, according to government records obtained by a government watchdog group. President Trump is seen arriving at Walter Reed hospital on October 2, 2020, after he was diagnosed with the virus
CREW noted that the Trump administration took actions that risked exposure to Secret Service workers, but it could not verify a direct connection to possible infections because the identities of those infected remains private.
After President Donald Trump contracted COVID-19, he took a drive in his presidential vehicle as Secret Service personnel drove and protected him.
Trump defended his 'joy ride' and insisted the Secret Service agents inside were 'heavily protected'. He said he 'owed his fans a little wave'.
Dr James Phillips, a Walter Reed attending doctor, condemned the president's drive.
Phillips, chief of disaster medicine at George Washington University's Emergency Medicine division, said that the design of the presidential vehicle, which is hermetically sealed to protect the passengers from attacks, made the drive even more dangerous.
'The risk of COVID19 transmission inside is as high as it gets outside of medical procedures,' Phillips said in a tweet.
'The irresponsibility is astounding. My thoughts are with the Secret Service forced to play.
'Every single person in the vehicle during that completely unnecessary Presidential 'drive-by' just now has to be quarantined for 14 days,' Phillips pointed out.
The former president also held multiple large rallies and events, including the announcement of Amy Coney Barrett's nomination to the Supreme Court in October 2020, despite restrictions on public gatherings.
More than 150 people attended Barrett's nomination, many of them maskless.
In addition to Trump and first lady Melania; New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former top Trump aide Kellyanne Conway, Republican Sens. Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Mike Lee of Utah, University of Notre Dame President John Jenkins and a White House journalist also contracted COVID.
Christie was later treated in hospital.
It is unclear how many Secret Service staffers, if any, were infected after the event.
Dr Fauci called the event a 'super-spreader'. In an interview with CBS after the event he said: 'Well, I think the data speaks for themselves. We had a superspreader event in the White House and it was in a situation where people were crowded together and were not wearing masks. So the data speak for themselves.'
The Secret Service employs approximately 3,200 special agents, 1,300 Uniformed Division officers, and more than 2,000 other technical, professional and administrative support personnel.
Trump administration took actions that risked exposure to Secret Service workers, but it could not verify a direct connection to possible infections because the identities of those infected remains private. After President Donald Trump contracted COVID-19, he took a drive in his presidential vehicle as Secret Service personnel drove and protected him
Secret Service agents drive Trump around in his motorcade after he was diagnosed with COVID on October 4
The former president also held multiple large rallies and events, including the announcement of Amy Coney Barrett's nomination to the Supreme Court in October 2020, despite restrictions on public gatherings
More than 150 people attended Barrett's nomination, many of them maskless. Chris Christie (pictured center) was one of the attendees who tested positive in the aftermath and was treated in hospital
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