Ivanka Keeps Blowing Off Trump Administration’s Coronavirus Guidelines

April 17th 2020

Ivanka Trump at 2019 event “Unleashing The Potential Of Women Entrepreneurs Through Finance And Markets” (World Bank Photo Collection)

By Emily Singer

White House staffer and first daughter Ivanka Trump has violated multiple rules and regulations for behavior during the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Last week she traveled to New Jersey, a state experiencing a major viral outbreak.

The New York Times reported Wednesday night that Trump traveled with her husband, White House adviser Jared Kushner, and their three children to the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster to celebrate the first night of Passover.

The White House on Thursday confirmed the Times report and said that Ivanka’s travel “was not commercial.”

“She chose to spend a holiday in private with her family,” the White House said in a statement to CNN.

Many other families observed social distancing regulations and refrained from traveling for Passover this year, and instead held seders — ritual meals conducted to mark the holiday — via video chat software.

Trump’s travel violated what the White House has called “The President’s Coronavirus Guidelines,” including “Avoid discretionary travel, shopping trips, and social visits.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tells people to check whether “COVID-19 spreading in the area where you’re going” when considering travel.

New Jersey is currently experiencing the second-worst outbreak of coronavirus in the country, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. The state has 71,030 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus and 3,156 deaths. That’s second only to New York, which as of Thursday had 214,832 cases and 14,073 deaths.

Trump herself has urged Americans not to travel during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Those lucky enough to be in a position to stay at home, please, please do so,” she said in a video posted to Twitter on March 29. “Each and every one of us plays a role in slowing the spread.”

According to the New York Times, Trump believed that the Trump golf club in New Jersey was safer than the six-bedroom, 6,870-square-foot mansion she rents in the wealthy Kalorama neighborhood of Washington, D.C.

Traveling to a coronavirus hot spot wasn’t the only time Trump ignored regulations.

She was tested for the novel coronavirus despite not having symptoms.

Members of the general public must show specific symptoms of COVID-19 to receive a coronavirus test, such as fever, coughing, or shortness of breath.

Even many people who do have symptoms are not able to be tested due to a shortage of testing kits.

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