Secret Service was hit with COVID-19 outbreak at its base in August - News Today

For any copyright, please send me a message. The Secret Service was hit with a COVID-19 outbreak at its Maryland training base back in August with at least 11 workers testing positive for the virus after attending graduation ceremonies where social distancing rules were flouted.Anonymous officials close to the matter revealed the virus spread through the base in rural Maryland even after it had been shuttered for several months to limit the risk of an outbreak, according to independent watchdog group the Project on Government Oversight and first reported by The New York Times. The revelation comes as Donald Trump appeared to point the blame for Hope Hicks's COVID-19 diagnosis on the military and law enforcement personnel Thursday, hours before he also tested positive for the virus. There is no indication that the outbreak at the Maryland facility is linked to Hicks or the President's diagnosis. The virus is thought to have spread among Secret Service workers at the base in August during training exercises and at a graduation ceremony at a nearby hotel where social distancing was not practiced, the sources said.The agency told the Times it 'has taken significant precautions at its training center to protect the health and welfare of its trainees and training staff.' The outbreak among Secret Service agents in August is just the latest in a string of cases rocking the agency in recent months. Share this article Share In July, several agents contracted the virus causing Vice President Mike Pence to change his plans to travel to Arizona. This came after at least two other Secret Service members tested positive for coronavirus after working at Trump's campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in June. Rick Nelson, a former National Security Council official, said the nature of the job puts agents at increased risk because they are required to work closely with the people they protect including traveling nationwide on their clients' whims.'They have a relatively small work force that doesn't allow them to absorb and respond to the fluctuation,' Nelson told the Times. 'They're at higher risk than the general public because they can't do their job if they're social distancing.' The Secret Service training facility was shuttered from March through to June as the pandemic ravaged America.It reopened with safety protocols in place including holding classes outdoors and temperature checking people at the facility. 'Any US Secret Service employee who may have tested positive would have been immediately isolated and returned home and out of the working environment. Considerations would also be taken to ensure the least amount of contact with the public,' Julia McMurray, a spokeswoman for the Secret Service, told the T