When you walked into the room with a mask, you got the looks. And when you walked into the room with a mask, you got the looks. They, at times, just didn't think it was real. And I think it was just a culture where people in the White House at the most senior political levels, never took it seriously. Because for me, I didn't want to be that person who infected the vice president, who I worked very closely with. I tried everything I could do to not touch common surfaces.

Olivia Troye: “I was always very cognizant. So it sounds like there was pressure to not wear masks? We lived in the White House bubble where somehow we thought that this virus wouldn't penetrate. It’s like we lived in the White House bubble where somehow we thought that this virus wouldn't penetrate. He was one of the first people to be wearing a mask back in January. Conley tried to implement protocols - and others, I know the deputy national security adviser, Matt Pottinger, spoke out very strongly about this from day one. And in this situation, it would be prudent for every single person to be wearing a mask, just as a precaution for themselves and each other, their families, and also for the president and the vice president. People work in very close proximity to each other. Olivia Troye: “The West Wing is very small. ( Interview HighlightsĬan you take us inside the White House prior to your departure in August? What was the attitude around mask wearing? Olivia Troye, former homeland security, counterterrorism and coronavirus adviser for Vice President Mike Pence. A former adviser to the White House COVID-19 taskforce discusses her own time in the Trump White House, and what President Trump's coronavirus diagnosis means for the United States. Uncertainty around the truth of the president's health. Mixed signals and information from the White House. 'What you're seeing is a continuing undermining of career dedicated professionals and the data and facts.' - Olivia Troye (Photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images) This article is more than 2 years old. White House physician Sean Conley answers questions surrounded by other doctors, during an update on the condition of US President Donald Trump, on October 4, 2020, at Walter Reed Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.

The Point After by Sean Conley