Ben Carson: Trump official tests positive for Covid after attending White House election party

Secretary of housing and urban development attended election night party at the White House on Tuesday

Ben Carson has become the latest Trump administration official to test positive for Covid-19.

The secretary of housing and urban development attended the election night party at the White House on Tuesday.

Very few in attendance wore masks to prevent the spread of the virus.

Mr Carson’s deputy chief of staff says he is “in good spirits and feels fortunate to have access to effective therapeutics which aid and markedly speed his recovery”.

The secretary was also seen maskless at a Trump campaign event in Waterford Township, Michigan, on 30 October. 

White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and four other staffers have also tested positive since the election.

It was feared that the election night celebration — held indoors and with very few people wearing masks — could be a repeat of the infamous superspreader event in the Rose Garden in late September.

Election night in the East Room of the White House, now thought to be a superspreader event at which many senior members of the administration were present (Getty Images)

That event, the official nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, led to approximately three dozen people associated with the White House contracting the virus — including Donald Trump, first lady Melania Trump, and their son Barron.

Mr Carson is one of the few cabinet members to serve the president since the beginning of his term in office.  He is also the only Black cabinet member.

The US now has more than 10 million confirmed cases of Covid-19 and over 238,000 officially recorded deaths.