Meadows Enters West Wing After Self-Quarantine Over Coronavirus

(Bloomberg) -- Incoming White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows was in the West Wing on Thursday, emerging from self-quarantine after encountering a person infected with coronavirus at a political event last month.

Meadows, a congressman from North Carolina who’s taking over from Mick Mulvaney as President Donald Trump’s top aide, was among several GOP lawmakers who self-isolated on March 9 after learning they came into contact with a person who tested positive. They all had attended the Conservative Political Action Conference late last month in Maryland.

Meadows, who was seen in the Oval Office during the president’s meeting with Ireland Prime Minister Leo Varadkar on Thursday, enters the White House as the administration grapples with the biggest crisis of Trump’s presidency. Markets have cratered as infections spread worldwide and U.S. cases topped 1,300.

The president held an emergency Oval Office meeting Wednesday to discuss options for dealing with the virus. More than a dozen senior aides attended, but Meadows wasn’t there and wasn’t asked to join by phone, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Meadows was among the most high-profile examples of Washington power brokers to be affected by the virus. On Thursday, Florida Senator Rick Scott announced he would self-quarantine out of “an abundance of caution” after meeting with a Brazilian official who has since tested positive for the virus.

Trump was photographed standing directly next to the official -- communications secretary for Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro -- at the president’s Mar-a-Lago resort on March 7.

The White House said Thursday Trump doesn’t need to be tested for the coronavirus right now, and downplayed the amount of contact he had with the Brazilian official.

Meadows is expected to begin full time work as Trump’s chief of staff later this month, one of the people said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jennifer Jacobs in Washington at jjacobs68@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alex Wayne at awayne3@bloomberg.net, Joshua Gallu, Justin Blum

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