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American Farm Bureau President Zippy Duvall tested positive for
COVID-19 on Wednesday morning, after he experienced a fever and
a cough, and was not attending the dinner, a spokeswoman for the
trade group said.
The 52-guest dinner, in the White House's East Room, was the
most prominent state-level social event hosted by the Trump
administration since coronavirus lockdowns began in March. It
came as several states reported record new COVID-19 cases, the
United States crosses 130,000 deaths, and New Jersey on
Wednesday ordered face masks to be worn in public.
President Donald Trump has declined to wear a mask in public and
his administration has shunned nationwide guidance on their use,
leaving it up to states and local authorities despite increasing
calls for mask use from within his own Republican Party.
Webcast White House events prior to the dinner disclosed little
social distancing, with attendees seated close to one another
and few wearing masks. The dinner was closed to the media.
The District of Columbia is currently requiring the
wearing of masks in businesses and other public places and is
prohibiting mass gatherings of more than 50 people.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Business Roundtable CEO group and
other business groups called on the White House and the National
Governors Association last week to issue clear, consistent
guidance requiring the wearing of masks in public to slow the
disease's spread.
"Absent stronger measures to prevent transmission, communities
across America risk another round of shutdowns, broad
restrictions on non-essential activities, and irreparable
economic harm," the groups wrote in a letter .
BIG 3 AUTO CEOS ABSENT
Detroit automaker CEOs Jim Hackett of Ford Motor Co <F.N>, Mary
Barra of General Motors Co <GM.N> and Mike Manley of Fiat
Chrysler <FCHA.MI> did not attend the dinner, with
representatives for the companies saying they were not
available.
All three companies stand to benefit from the launch of a new
U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade deal that replaces the 26-year-old
North American Free Trade Agreement.
Ford sent its North American operations chief, Kumar Galhotra,
while GM sent its general counsel, Craig Glidden, according to a
list of attendees provided by the White House. No Fiat Chrysler
executive was listed.
Some company officials said that they only learned about the
dinner invitations on Monday.
Many companies are in non-disclosure periods ahead of reporting
second-quarter earnings, while Detroit automakers are in the
midst of annual summer plant shutdowns, when some executives
take vacations.
But a number of U.S. CEOs were in attendance, according to the
White House list, including Jeff Martin of Sempra Energy <SRE.N>,
Bob Swan of Intel Corp <INTC.O>, David Abney of United Parcel
Service Inc <UPS.N>, Leon Topalian of Nucor Corp <NUE.N>, James
Taiclet of Lockheed Martin Corp <LMT.N> and Steven Schwarzman of
Blackstone Group <BX.N>.
Mexican CEOs in attendance included Grupo Empresarial Angeles
CEO Olegario Vazquez, Grupo Financiero Banorte Chairman Carlos
Hank Gonzalez, Grupo Televisa co-CEO Bernardo Gomez and Mexican
billionaire tycoon Carlos Slim, whose America Movil controls
Mexico's largest telecommunication network.
The Farm Bureau's Duvall is quarantined at his Georgia dairy
farm, and "is feeling strong and in good spirits," Farm Bureau
spokeswoman Terri Moore said.
Duvall had traveled only once within the past two weeks in an
official capacity within Georgia, and hosts of those events and
others he had come in contact with were being notified, she
said.
(Reporting by David Lawder, Alexandra Alper, Jeff Mason and
Andrea Shalal in Washington, Dave Graham in Mexico City, Joseph
B. White in Detroit and Stephen Nellis in San Francisco; Editing
by Peter Cooney)
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