WASHINGTON _ The White House required that journalists on Thursday take a rapid coronavirus test before participating in the news briefing frequently attended by President Donald Trump.
The White House Medical Unit decided to order the tests after one correspondent who was at a news briefing earlier this week reported symptoms. That reporter's coronavirus test result came back negative, the White House Correspondents' Association said late Thursday after reporters attending the briefing had already been tested.
The decision to provide reporters with rapid tests, which produce results in approximately 15 minutes, was made "out of an abundance of caution," according to the White House media office. The tests were conducted on all reporters, photographers and technicians "with absolute privacy in a vacant office" in the West Wing, the White House said in a statement.
