Trump backed away from a coronavirus health official as some sort of bizarre joke and it was excruciating

President Donald Trump isn’t taking any chances when it comes to contracting coronavirus, so when a health official said she had a ‘low-grade fever’ at a press conference on Monday, he immediately backed away.

Dr Deborah Birx, who is the response coordinator for the coronavirus task force, said:

You’ll notice I wasn’t here over the weekend. I think this is the part we really need to take personal responsibility for — Saturday, I had a little low-grade fever…

As soon as Trump heard this, he put his hands up, backed away and jokingly exclaimed:

Uh-oh!

Dr Birx, rolling her eyes and sighing, continued:

I'm meticulous. I'm a physician. I looked it up. ... I got a test late Saturday night, and I'm negative.

At this news, Trump exasperatingly said:

Phew!

Laughing, Dr Birx carried on with the press conference and urged everyone to take personal responsibility to halt the spread of Covid-19.

The response on social media to the exchange was mixed, with many asking why Trump wasn’t seemingly taking the pandemic seriously:

Some people also called out the executive team for not standing two metres apart during the press briefing:

Current advice tells people to stay at least 1.5 meters from each other to stop the spread of coronavirus.

There is currently a country-wide lockdown in the UK and people are advised to stay home unless they need medical treatment, shop for essential supplies, go to work (only if absolutely necessary) and do one form of exercise.