"I mean, you can't take that kind of risk with the leaders of the country," Birx said during Monday's press briefing

Dr. Birx Says She Couldn't Help Her Granddaughter Sick with Fever Out of Fear of Getting Trump Sick

The White House’s Dr. Deborah Birx is stressing the importance of social distancing amid the novel coronavirus pandemic.

During Monday’s press briefing on the virus, Birx said that she opted not to treat her sick granddaughter over the weekend out of a concern over then getting President Donald Trump or Vice President Mike Pence sick.

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“We need to take care of each other now as Americans. And I know they’re tough,” said Birx, who is the coronavirus response coordinator. “My grandchild of 10 months had a fever of 105 this weekend. I’m a doctor, and I couldn’t get there. So I’m trying to explain to my daughter how to listen to her lungs.”

“You could not get there?” Trump, 73, asked Birx as she was speaking.

“I could not go there!” Birx quipped back, prompting Trump to say, “Good, I’m glad to hear it.”

“I did not go there, because of you two,” Birx said in reference to Trump and Pence, 60. “I mean, you can’t take that kind of risk with leaders of the country.”

Birx explained that her family is taking social distancing seriously and isn’t allowing anyone “in that house or out that house because there’s too much precious cargo.”

Birx’s elderly parents live in the same home as her daughter and infant granddaughter.

As for how her granddaughter is doing now, Birx said, “Babies can do that, but it’s very scary, so it was just a few sleepless nights for me.”

Image zoom Dr. Deborah Birx Alex Brandon/AP/Shutterstock

“I’m sure it’s roseola,” Birx said of the common viral illness that affects young children and causes a high fever.

Trump has said he remains in good health amid the global health crisis.

During last Thursday’s press briefing, he announced that he had been re-tested for the coronavirus and tested negative.

“I did take a test that just came out. … I went to work. I did not wait for it, but it took 14 minutes or something to come up with the conclusion. … So that is the second one. I think I took it really out of curiosity to see how quickly it worked and fast it worked,” Trump explained.

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“And it’s a lot easier. I’ve done them both. And the second one is much more pleasant,” he said.

White House Physician Sean P. Conley explained in a memorandum obtained by PEOPLE before the briefing that Trump was “healthy and without symptoms.”

“This morning, the President was tested again for COVID-19, utilizing a new, rapid point-of-care test capability,” Conley said. “He is healthy and without symptoms. Sample collection took just one minute, and results were reported back in 15 minutes. The President tested negative for COVID-19.”

Image zoom President Donald Trump (left) and Dr. Deborah Birx (right)

Trump first took a coronavirus test in March.

At Saturday’s news conference, he briefly discussed how his 14-year-old son, Barron, is handling life in isolation.

“He’s like everyone else,” the president said. “He’s in his room. He’s happy, but he’s not as happy as you could be.”

“He’d like to be playing sports, Barron,” the president added, noting that his teen son, who is largely kept out of the public eye given his age, is “a good athlete, and he loves soccer.”

As of Monday, there had been at least 365,525 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the U.S., the most of any country.

At least 10,925 people in the U.S. have died.