The White House medical unit is taking the lead on contact tracing the high-dollar donors who attended President Donald Trump's Thursday fundraiser in Bedminster, while New Jersey health officials are reaching out to golf club employees that may be at risk for the coronavirus, according to a Murphy administration source.
The Republican National Committee provided New Jersey officials with a list of the names and email addresses of guests. The list "was not sufficient" for contact tracing as tracers need phone numbers to reach people more quickly and addresses to understand what communities are impacted, the source said. The list also did not include workers at the Bedminster club, the source said.
"From a quick scan of the list, many of these folks were from out of state," the source said, so the White House medical unit said it would take the lead on reaching out to attendees. New Jersey officials emailed all the guests, providing them with steps to take and health resources if they are in New Jersey.
The state Department of Health, in partnership with the Somerset County Department of Health, received a list of around 20 names of staff who worked during the fundraiser, and are calling these workers to make sure they take the necessary precautions, the source said.
"Not that one group of people is more or less important than others, but those folks by definition will typically be low income or middle income workers, who will go back to dense and diverse communities, which is our worst coefficient for spreading the virus," the administration source said.
Somerset County has 70 tracers,
according to the state COVID-19 dashboard, and the administration predicts New Jersey should have enough resources to do the tracing. Somerset County declined to answer additional questions, referring to statements that say tracing efforts are underway.
NJ contact tracing Bedminster NJ fundraiser staff at risk for COVID-19