900 US Secret Service Agents Got Covid During Pandemic

Protecting a president and his family who denied the seriousness of the virus and refused most prudent safety measures - even after he was infected - likely contributed to the high rate of illness. JL

Matt Shuham reports in Talking Points Memo :

Special agents are tasked with protective assignments — such as the Secret Service agents who drove around with then-President Donald Trump in a closed SUV after he tested positive for COVID last year. The Secret Service’s uniformed division is tasked with protecting facilities, such as the White House and the vice president’s residence. In addition to Trump’s Walter Reed road trip, the former president and his Secret Service-protected family took numerous trips to Trump-branded properties and held large rallies throughout the pandemic.

Almost 900 Secret Service employees tested positive for COVID-19 during the year since the pandemic hit the United States, according to public records published Tuesday. 

The Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general released data on the positive test results to the watchdog group CREW, or Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. 

The records show that of the 881 positive test results recorded between March 1, 2021 and March 9, 2021, the majority, 477, came from employees working as special agents, and 249 were from members of the uniformed division. 

Special agents are tasked with protective assignments — such as the Secret Service agents who drove around with then-President Donald Trump in a closed SUV after he tested positive for COVID last year.

The Secret Service’s uniformed division is tasked with protecting facilities, such as the White House and the vice president’s residence. The bulk of the remaining COVID-stricken employees, 131, were classified as “administrative, professional, technical positions.” 

CREW noted that in addition to Trump’s Walter Reed road trip, the former president and his Secret Service-protected family took numerous trips to Trump-branded properties and held large rallies throughout the pandemic.

According to the Secret Service, the agency employs around 3,200 special agents, 1,300 uniformed division officers, and more than 2,000 other personnel. 

That means, according to the records released Tuesday, nearly 14 percent of the Secret Service workforce contracted COVID-19 — including more than 19 percent of the uniformed service, which among other assignments was tasked with protecting the White House through an extensive COVID outbreak there.