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Brazil’s acting ambassador to the United States is the third Mar-a-Lago guest last weekend to test positive for the coronavirus. Nestor Forster dined with Donald Trump last Saturday night at the president’s golf resort in West Palm Beach, Florida.
The dinner also included Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, Ivanka Trump and husband Jared Kushner.
Bolsonaro tweeted Friday that he had tested negative, adding: “DON’T BELIEVE IN THE FAKE NEWS MEDIA.” But Brazil’s Estado de S.Paulo newspaper reported later that he will be tested again.
Bolsonaro’s communications secretary, Fabio Wajngarten, who was a guest at Mar-a-Lago the same weekend, also tested positive. He didn’t dine with Trump, but posed for a picture with the president.
Yet another guest who tested positive attended a Sunday fundraising lunch hosted by Trump Victory, a committee that raises money for Trump’s reelection campaign and the Republican Party, according to an email from GOP officials, The Washington Post reported. Party officials said the person had no direct contact with Trump.
Forster will extend his self-quarantine for an additional two weeks, according to a statement from the embassy. He apparently began the quarantine after Wajngarten tested positive.
Trump has acted as if his exposure to the coronavirus at Mar-a-Lago is no big deal. He said Thursday he was “not concerned” and he wouldn’t be tested.
But on Friday, while Trump was taking questions from reporters after declaring a national emergency, he said he would “likely” get tested.
White House physician Sean Conley issued a memo Friday, however, saying that Trump doesn’t require testing or a self-quarantine, even though he was exposed to at least two people who have tested positive for the coronavirus. The president has no symptoms, Conley noted, adding that he will closely monitor Trump.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that people consider restricting their movements if they have been exposed to a confirmed case of COVID-19, even if they show no symptoms.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) are both under self-quarantine after coming into contact with Wajngarten at Mar-a-Lago last weekend.