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See Trump's reaction when he heard one of his top docs was tested for coronavirus

Side by side at the podium with the president, task force member Dr. Deborah Birx broke the news about her fever.
/ Source: NBC News

The Trump administration's coronavirus task force had a moment of levity on Monday when President Donald Trump playfully walked away from panel member Dr. Deborah Birx after she revealed she had a fever over the weekend and was tested for the virus.

She was negative.

"I think this is the part we really need to take personal responsibility for — Saturday, I had a little low-grade grade fever," Birx, the response coordinator for the coronarvirus task force, said when asked by a reporter about the administration's guidelines after Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., tested positive for the virus.

Trump immediately, jokingly, stepped away from her at the podium in the White House briefing room when he heard about the fever and test.

"I'm meticulous, I'm a physician, I looked it up...I got a test late Saturday night, and I'm negative," Birx said before Trump said "phew."

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"That's why each person has to be responsible," Dr. Birx added. "Assume that everyone that you're interacting with could be positive."

Trump also said that he did not expect the isolation of Americans during the outbreak, which as hurt the American economy, will last a few weeks. However, public health officials in the administrations have warned that it would last much longer.

"I want America to understand this week, it's going to get bad," Surgeon General Jerome Adams said in an interview on the "TODAY" show Monday. "Right now, there are not enough people out there who are taking this seriously."