- The COVID-19 pandemic was difficult for the residence staff in the White House.
- A staff member said employees had received conflicting information on how to return to work safely last year.
- The White House’s approach to COVID-19 shifted dramatically after Biden succeeded Trump.
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While former president Donald Trump and many of his associates struggled with COVID-19 last year with their own attacks, White House residence staff, according to the New Yorker, never stopped toiling in the background.
Residence staff have for years lamented the irregularity of events held in the White House under Trump, which included only two state servants, compared to the six offered by former President Barack Obama in his first term.
According to the report, staff members who have served several U.S. presidents under ‘lifers’ have spread a sense of ‘malaise’.
As the COVID-19 pandemic continued last year, the desolation of the building only increased. A staff member renamed Jason to protect his identity discussed the evolving situation under Trump.
“People stayed at home,” he said. “Everything from food service to national security – if it can be done at home, it’s done at home.”
The former interim head of the White House, Timothy Harleth, said that the residence staff complied with the necessary COVID-19 health guidelines more than other employees in the White House.
“It was us who wore PPE [personal protective equipment], who insisted on having our people tested, ‘he said, but noted that’ most of our people cannot work easily. ‘
According to Harleth, about seven or eight residence staff contracted COVID-19.
After the staff members recovered, they were asked to work in place of other employees due to the suspicion of immunity against the very contagious disease.
Jason said the ‘lifers’ do not consistently receive messages when they are expected in the White House or when they have to stay at their homes.
“There was a lot and a lot of confusion, no direction from above, a complete lack of empathy, sympathy,” he expressed. ‘The Christmas parties with maskless hordes were provided, but [the staff] will have to be there for this and that. There was no fixed message on how to keep you safe. ‘
When President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden arrived at the White House on January 20, the tone in the building changed.
As a result of social distance measures, employees were scattered across the state floor when the Bidens arrived at the White House after the inauguration ceremony.
Another hostel staff notes the difference between how Biden approached the pandemic and that of Trump, where staff members were all saying goodbye in one room.
“It’s like day and night,” the staff said.