Over the past week, as he was apparently infected by and developed symptoms of COVID-19, Donald Trump has been unmasked and in close quarters with many important people and people wealthy enough to attend his fundraisers. We have lists of those people. But they’re not the only people his reckless behavior may have endangered.
We don’t know their names, but it’s a certainty that Trump has been in proximity to a number of service workers and others there for his safety and comfort over the past week. From White House staff to workers at the fundraisers he held—including one at his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club, where an undocumented housekeeper cleaned up after him for years—to the employees at his Virginia golf club where he played on Sunday, to the military personnel who make up the crew of Air Force One, and of course his Secret Service detail, Trump has been served and waited on and protected even as he refused to wear a mask and kept top aide Hope Hicks’ positive COVID-19 test secret.
Members of the Biden campaign say they weren't contacted about potential exposure despite Tuesday’s debate between Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden. If Team Trump didn’t reach out to a high-profile, obvious exposure with ready access to the media, it’s very unlikely that the little people were a priority for them.
The good news for anyone who did come into contact with Trump recently—and it’s important to note that we don’t know how recently it would have to be, since we can’t trust this White House to tell the truth about any of what happened—is that they know they were in contact with him. It’s not a case of “one person at an event had COVID-19, but you have no way of knowing if you came into contact with that person.” Anyone who had contact with Trump has that key information, and military personnel and Secret Service agents have good health coverage. But do the people who served him food or cleaned up after him have health insurance? Access to coronavirus testing? Physically vulnerable family members living in close quarters with them?
Trump’s irresponsibility about mask-wearing and other precautions has put the United States government and many of its leaders into a fragile position. But, as is so often the case, it may have inflicted unseen harm on people who didn’t have the power to say no or to pressure Trump to behave more responsibly.