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Trump slammed after White House declines CDC offer to help with contact tracing: 'Possible he's patient zero'

Several current and former CDC officials accused the White House of 'seeking to avoid learning the scope of the outbreaks'

The White House raised eyebrows on Monday as it rejected an offer from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to perform contact tracing and notify those who were possibly exposed to the coronavirus following the diagnosis of President Donald Trump and several of his top aides. Speaking to USA Today, several current and former CDC officials accused the White House of "seeking to avoid learning the scope of the outbreaks."  “CDC, when left in the hands of its scientists, makes tough decisions and helps implement them and maybe that's not what the White House wants,” Former CDC director Dr. Jeffrey Koplan told the outlet. “They seem to be marching toward a different goal. It’s a petty one and a partisan one. And all of us pay the price.” 

It emerged that the White House Medical Unit had declined assistance from the CDC during a Monday morning phone call, per multiple agency sources. According to the outlet, CDC Director Robert Redfield has been offering to help the White House ever since Trump’s diagnosis became public on Friday.

CDC spokesman Tom Skinner confirmed that the White House had rejected the CDC’s offers to run the contact tracing, an effort they plan to run independently. White House spokesman Judd Deere denied allegations that the CDC is not engaged with the Trump administration. “The White House is following CDC guidelines and has a full-time detailed CDC epidemiologist on staff who has been here since March,” he said in a statement.

On Monday, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser reportedly "reached out to the White House on a couple of levels, on a political level and a public health level, to make sure that any assistance we could provide could be rendered." However, the city did not hear back from the White House and Bowser acknowledged "a lot was going on and they have their hands full."

Meanwhile, Dr. Marcus Plescia, chief medical officer of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, told USA Today that it "would be useful to hear from the administration exactly how they are handling this so everybody could be reassured that it is being handled adequately and appropriately."

Anti-Trump Twitterati appeared remarkably upset at the White House declining the CDC's offer. "The White House is not allowing the CDC to contact trace. So there’s that," anti-Trump activist Ben Meiselas tweeted. "The Trump administration doesn't want the CDC involved in contract tracing at the White House because they know that the details of exactly when Trump contracted Covid and how many people he knowingly put at risk will come out. It's also possible that he was patient zero," author Amee Vanderpool added.

"The White House declined CDC’s offer fo help with contact tracing. Trump encourages people not to fear COVID-19 and removes his mask while infected with Coronavirus. Why do I feel we are purposely experiencing genocide?" another wrote.

"CDC PROHIBITED FROM DOING THEIR JOB! Guess why? Because Trump doesn't want the chance of them tracing the White House outbreak back to him. This, folks, is what they call fascism," a fourth chimed in.