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ORn staff member of the vice president of the United States, Mike Pence, contracted coronavirusspokeswoman Katie Miller reported Friday. “Tonight we were notified that a member of the Vice President’s office has coronavirus. Neither President Trump nor Vice President Pence has had close contact with the person“Miller said, without revealing his identity.
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“Previous contacts are being tracked, according to guidelines established by the Center for Disease Control (CDC, for its acronym in English),” he added. Pence was put by Donald Trump in charge of the federal government’s efforts against the expansion of the coronavirus. Their tasks include coordinating actions with the governors and participating in daily updates provided by the administration..
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At least until the beginning of this week, Pence has not undergone studies to determine if he has contracted coronavirus. Donald Trump has done so and, according to the White House doctor, his test was negative.
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The case would be the first in the White House. However, on Capitol Hill there have already been others of higher profile: it is two representatives of the lower house, Florida state Republican Mario Díaz-Balart and Utah Democrat Ben McAdams. The events led more than two dozen of his colleagues to be quarantined as a precautionary measure.
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Díaz-Balart had been quarantined on March 13, after participating in a vote, with fever and headaches. On March 18, he confirmed that he had the disease. In a statement, he said he has been feeling “much better” in recent days, but urged the population to take the virus with “extreme seriousness.” McAdams said it learned the results the same day, saying it was “working for Utah residents” from home until it was safe to end their quarantine.
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Nevertheless, activity in Congress remains at an intense level, considering that representatives and senators negotiate economic and social packages every day to alleviate the effects that the coronavirus has on the economy, public health and other aspects of American society.
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The number of positive cases of coronavirus in the United States has increased exponentially in recent days. On Friday, health authorities announced that the infected number more than 18,000, while the number of deaths rose to 225 compared to 177 on Thursday, which implies that 48 of them took place during the last day..
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There are positive cases in all states and deaths in more than half of them. At the moment, the most affected is the state of Washington (not the capital) in the northwest of the country, with 74 deaths. It is followed by New York and California, with 42 and 19, respectively.
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At the federal level, Donald Trump ruled out imposing a national quarantine, but announced Friday that the U.S.-Mexico border will be closed to non-essential travel to help stop the spread of the virus. “As we did with Canada, we are also working with Mexico to implement new rules at our ports of entry to suspend non-essential travel,” Trump said. “These new rules and procedures will not impede trade.”
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Different states have imposed measures to restrict the movement of people, so more than 20 percent of the residents of the United States have been ordered to stay at home, except to carry out essential activities or provide services of the same nature. These include California, New York and Illinois, while Florida Governor Ron DeSantis ordered the closure of all gyms and restaurants.
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