The White House is adopting new temporary restrictions on the press "while at the same time continuing to provide access to the press to cover the Trump Administration’s unprecedented actions to combat this pandemic."
To begin with, the White House applauded the White House Correspondents Association (WHCA) for creating a temporary seating chart for the briefing room that reflects social distancing guidelines.
Related: Five TV Sectors Impacted by COVID-19
To that point, the office of the press secretary announced that members of the press without a seat in that chart and are not participants in the in-house pool will not be allowed in the White House complex, with exceptions for some technicals or networks with stand-up positions on Pebble Beach (a paved spot (formerly gravel) near the West Wing from which media outlets do stand-ups).
And while the White House has been taking the temperatures of reporters, the policy is now official, with temperature-taking and a basic health screening.
