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White House Cools Off On Temperature Screenings

By Barbara Sprunt
Published June 22, 2020 at 11:19 AM EDT
A doctor from the White House physician's office checks temperatures on a journalist outside the press briefing room in March.
Jim Watson
/
AFP via Getty Images
A doctor from the White House physician's office checks temperatures on a journalist outside the press briefing room in March.

The White House is scaling back temperature checks for those entering the complex as tents stationed along the north entrance to the building for conducting screenings were removed Monday morning.

White House deputy press secretary Judd Deere said the move follows Washington, D.C.'s entry into phase two of reopening.

"In addition to social distancing, hand sanitizer, regular deep cleaning of all work spaces, and voluntary facial coverings, every staff member and guest in close proximity to the president and vice president is still being temperature checked, asked symptom histories, and tested for COVID-19," Deere's statement said.

For months, visitors were required to answer questions about their health and undergo a temperature check before entering the White House.

The shift comes two days after six campaign staffers tested positive for the coronavirus ahead of President Trump's Saturday rally in Tulsa, Okla.

The rally, Trump's first big campaign event since the outbreak of the pandemic, took place despite public health concerns over the potential mass spreading of the virus. While the campaign provided masks to attendees, many did not wear them.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Barbara Sprunt
Barbara Sprunt is a producer on NPR's Washington desk, where she reports and produces breaking news and feature political content. She formerly produced the NPR Politics Podcast and got her start in radio at as an intern on NPR's Weekend All Things Considered and Tell Me More with Michel Martin. She is an alumnus of the Paul Miller Reporting Fellowship at the National Press Foundation. She is a graduate of American University in Washington, D.C., and a Pennsylvania native.
See stories by Barbara Sprunt