Attorney general not quarantining after White House meeting

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey has opted not to quarantine or take other precautions after attending a White House meeting last month hosted by President Donald Trump, Morrisey’s spokesman told a newspaper.

Morrisey attended the Sept. 23 roundtable discussion on “Protecting Consumers from Social Media Abuses,” the Charleston Gazette-Mail reported. Nine days later, Trump was hospitalized for treatment of COVID-19. His doctors indicated he began experiencing symptoms of the virus earlier in the day.

Morrisey “was not in close proximity of the president during that meeting fifteen days ago,” the Republican attorney general’s press secretary, Curtis Johnson, said in a statement.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the incubation period for COVID-19 — the period from exposure to the virus to first symptoms — may range from two to 14 days. That makes it possible that Trump was infected when Morrisey attended the Sept. 23 meeting, days before what is believed to be a super-spreader event during a Rose Garden ceremony to announce Trump’s U.S. Supreme Court nominee, the newspaper reported.

CDC protocols call for people who have been in contact with someone infected with COVID-19 to stay at home and avoid contact with others for 14 days.

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Kassie Simmons
Kassie Simmons joined the team in January 2019 as a weekend journalist. She graduated from Virginia Tech in just two and a half years with a BA in multimedia journalism. During her short time at Virginia Tech, she served as the editor for the university’s chapter of The Tab. Kassie was named the top reporter for The Tab at Virginia Tech on multiple occasions and made the list for the top 30 reporters for The Tab in the U.S. She also studied theater performance and minored in creative writing. Before coming to WOAY, Kassie interned at WSLS in Roanoke and the Tidewater Review in her hometown of West Point, Va. She has loved following breaking news since her childhood and has a passion for delivering the stories people care most about. Kassie is excited to be working in Southern West Virginia and looks forward to all the adventures ahead of her. You can follow her on Twitter at @KassieLSimmons and like her page on Facebook. If you have a story you think she should check out, send her an email at ksimmons@woay.com.