The White House began requiring all staffers entering the West Wing to wear a facial covering from today.

White House staffers returned in the morning to a thoroughly cleaned West Wing and new protocols around testing and masks.


Meanwhile the president is not going to wear a mask while in the West Wing/Oval Office and he has avoided wearing a mask completely, while Mike Pence has avoided wearing one almost completely and they have done very little to promote the idea,

NBC adds that Secret Service members in close proximity to the president have begun wearing masks and visitors were asked additional questions before entering the White House grounds about whether they’d been experiencing any symptoms in addition to temperature checks. Staffers who are in regular, close contact with the president — roughly a dozen people — are also being tested daily.


A majority of Americans do not support the protests against stay-at-home orders and restrictions aimed at stemming the spread the coronavirus, according to a new survey from the University of Chicago Divinity School and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

The poll also showed that while support for such restrictions remains strong, the number has dipped in recent weeks. These findings match the results of another poll released today by Monmouth University.

According to the AP survey, 55% of Americans disapprove of the protests that have popped up in some states while 31% approve of the demonstrations. Unsurprisingly, Democrats are more likely than Republicans to disapprove of the protests, which have been organized with right-wing groups and often feature Trump campaign insignia.

Meanwhile, the survey found that 67% of Americans are in favor of orders requiring bars and restaurants to close, down from 76% in the earlier poll.

The poll also suggested declining support for requiring Americans to limit gatherings to 10 people or fewer. Support to 75% from 82%. A similar trend was found for limitations on nonessential medical care, which dropped to 57% from 68%.

Nearly 2,000 former Justice Department employees are calling on Attorney General William Barr to resign, arguing in an open letter that he has “once again assaulted the rule of law” by moving to drop the case against Michael Flynn, the president’s former national security adviser.

In the open letter, organized by the nonprofit group Protect Democracy and published online on Monday, the lawyers assert that Barr’s actions are “extraordinarily rare, if not unprecedented.”

Concern about contracting the coronavirus has fallen even as more Americans report knowing someone who has tested positive for Covid-19, according to a new Monmouth University poll.
The survey found that 42% of Americans are very concerned that a family member will get seriously ill from the coronavirus, down from 50% in April.

Weeks after right-wing protests erupted in response to states’ stay-at-home orders, there is some evidence that attendees have now contracted the virus.

According to Up North News in Wisconsin, 72 residents who reported attending a large gathering in the past two weeks have tested positive for Covid-19. The state did not ask individuals to specify which event they attended. But two weeks ago, 1,500 people gathered at a rally at the state’s Capitol in Madison in violation of the state’s social distancing restrictions. Photographs of the event show mask-less participants standing next to each other in a large crowd.

According to a New York Times database, new cases are decreasing in just 14 states of 50 states. Among them are densely populated states like New York and Michigan, which were among the hardest hit. The list also includes sparsely-populated states like Montana and Alaska.

New cases are still rising in nine US states, including states like Arizona that is pressing ahead with its re-opening on Monday. In the remaining states, the growth rate of new cases has remained relatively steady.