roils

The presidential campaign was roiled this weekend by a fresh outbreak of the novel coronavirus at the White House that infected at least five aides or advisers to Vice President Pence that President Trump’s top staffer acknowledged Sunday he had sought to avoid disclosing to the public.

© Gene J. Puskar/AP
Vice President Pence works the crowd after delivering remarks at a campaign rally last Friday at Allegheny County Airport in West Mifflin, Pa.

With the election just nine days away, the new White House outbreak spotlighted the administration’s failure to contain the pandemic, as hospitalizations surge across much of the United States and daily new cases hit all-time highs.

The outbreak around Pence, who chairs the White House’s coronavirus task force, undermines the argument Trump has been making to voters that the country is “rounding the turn,” as the president put it at a rally Sunday in New Hampshire.

Further complicating Trump’s campaign-trail pitch was an extraordinary admission Sunday from White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows that the administration had effectively given up on trying to slow the virus’s spread.

“We’re not going to control the pandemic,” Meadows said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “We are going to control the fact that we get vaccines, therapeutics and other mitigations.”

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, who regularly wears a mask on the campaign trail and strictly adheres to social distancing guidelines, sought to capitalize on the remark.

“This wasn’t a slip by Meadows; it was a candid acknowledgment of what President Trump’s strategy has clearly been from the beginning of this crisis: to wave the white flag of defeat and hope that by ignoring it, the virus would simply go away,” Biden said in a statement. “It hasn’t, and it won’t.”

© Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, accompanied by his granddaughters Natalie and Finnegan Biden, passes gravesites on their way to a church service Sunday at St. Joseph on the Brandywine in Wilmington, Del.

The outbreak in Pence’s orbit comes roughly three weeks after Trump was hospitalized with the virus and a number of his advisers tested positive. Officials said the new list of those infected includes the vice president’s chief of staff, Marc Short; his top outside political adviser, Marty Obst; his personal aide Zach Bauer, known as a “body man,” who accompanies him throughout his day; and two other staff members.

Pence has been in close contact with a number of those infected in recent days, but spokesman Devin O’Malley said the vice president and second lady Karen Pence both tested negative for the virus on Saturday and again Sunday, and have been “in good health.”

The vice president continued Sunday with his heavy travel schedule, flying to North Carolina for an evening rally in Kinston. He told aides he was determined to keep up his appearances through the week despite his potential exposure, irrespective of guidelines, officials said.

On Monday, Pence is expected to visit the Capitol to preside over