For months, US President Donald Trump and his aides have regularly gone without masks, often appearing to behave as if there was no pandemic. Then the president tested positive for Covid-19, and their world changed. This is the story of a seismic day.
Early on Friday evening, it was peaceful at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, nine miles from the White House, and so quiet you could hear an acorn drop. But the mood was tense. Police tape was stretched from a tree to a basketball hoop, marking the landing zone for Marine One, and a dog sniffed for explosives. Donald Trump would arrive soon, and no-one knew quite what to expect. A security official admitted that his plan was a work in progress. 'I don't think anyone knows what's going on,' he said.
The uncertainty began in the early morning hours, just before 01:00 in Washington, with the president's announcement on Twitter that he had tested positive. Afterwards, White House aides and staffers did their best to maintain a sense of normality, but the mood spiralled into chaos. There was anxiety, shouting and a few tears.
The president had long managed to project a sense of optimism about the US health crisis, as if he could will the pandemic away. More than 200,000 people have died with Covid-19 in the US, yet he has been saying recently that the pandemic is 'getting under control'. In a pre-recorded address on Thursday, Mr Trump asserted that 'the end of the pandemic is in sight'. Meanwhile, at a presidential debate earlier this week, he made fun of his Democratic rival, Joe Biden, for always wearing a mask.
The administration relied on rapid Covid-19 testing machines to screen those in contact with the president. But experts have raised questions about the reliability of these tests, suggesting they might have given officials a false sense of security. Now the president is sick, and his aides are struggling to cope. One of his top advisors, Hope Hicks, has tested positive, as has his campaign manager Bill Stepien, two Republican senators, and Ronna McDaniel, the Republican National Committee chairwoman.
Senior White House staffers are now in isolation. Junior staff members were frantically fielding calls as part of a massive contact tracing programme. In the midst of the confusion, White House aides have tried to put on a brave face. The president's economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, assured journalists that the president was working hard. Kayleigh McEnany, Mr Trump's press secretary, insisted that the White House was operating smoothly, adding: 'He's had mild symptoms, but he is hard at work. We're having to slow him down a little bit.'
