The White House did not have strong enough precautions against COVID-19, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis said at a Friday news conference in Greeley, less than a day after President Donald Trump announced that he and his wife had tested positive for the sometimes deadly virus.

“We want better than that for you and me,” Polis said, adding the outbreak at the White House “demonstrates very clearly the importance of testing, that testing alone is not the answer, and that we also need to continue in the coming weeks and months with social-distancing and mask-wearing to be safe.”

The virus “affects people regardless of their income level, their race, whether they’re in rural Alabama or in Denver or whether they work in the White House,” he said. “It truly does not pick favorites. It’s important for all workplaces to put strong precautions in place.”

“My thoughts and prayers are with everybody who contracted coronavirus at the White House” and across the country and world, he added.

When asked if he was present on a call Trump had planned to hold with governors today, as reported by CNN, and whether Trump was on the call, Polis said he wasn’t aware of such a call. As of 1:30 p.m. MT, the president had been silent on Twitter since the night prior, when he announced his diagnosis. Vice President Mike Pence led a call Friday on protecting U.S. seniors in lieu of the president but said the president was “well at this time,” CNN reported.

Polis said he had been tested for the novel coronavirus “eight or nine times” in sum and that he and his team members are currently tested about once a week, now that testing is more widely available.

When asked whether the outbreak at the White House would change how he governs, Polis said he wouldn’t “stop being an effective governor because of the pandemic,” and that he would continue to take precautions and “be in the community.”

Colorado hospitalizations related to COVID-19 have hit 200 for the first time since early August, rising from 120 two weeks ago, Polis said, echoing an announcement from state officials late Thursday.

They’ve trended upward the last 11 of 14 days, and diagnoses have increased in the last nine of 14 days, he added.

“We continue to be concerned about the upward trend,” although the current number doesn’t challenge the state’s hospital capacity, Polis said. “We have plenty of capacity to address folks who have COVID, heart attacks, cancer, any condition.”

He cautioned that the state needs to “really bear down here, ” reiterating, “Wear a mask when you’re around others, be outside instead of inside, avoid gatherings, just be thoughtful, be safe, be cautious.”

Polis said he strongly believes the state is “past the halfway” point of the pandemic and that he still expects the “first vestiges of an effective vaccine” to be available to front-line workers in November or December, and to the public early next year.

As of Thursday, Colorado had seen 71,218 COVID-19 diagnoses, with more than 7,500 hospitalized and 1,962 deaths due to the virus.

The revelation of Trump’s diagnosis came in a tweet from the president about 11 p.m. Thursday after he had returned from an afternoon political fundraiser. He had gone ahead, saying nothing to the crowd though knowing he had been exposed to an aide with the disease that has infected millions in America and killed more than a million people worldwide.

First lady Melania Trump also tested positive, the president said, and several others in the White House have too, prompting concern that the White House or even Trump himself might have spread the virus further.

The president’s announcement came hours after he confirmed that Hope Hicks, one of his most trusted and longest-serving aides, had been diagnosed with the virus Thursday. Hicks began feeling mild symptoms during the plane ride home from a rally in Minnesota on Wednesday evening, according to an administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity to disclose private information. She was isolated from other passengers aboard the plane, the person said. 

The White House on Friday said the president was experiencing “mild” symptoms.

Trump has spent much of the year downplaying the threat of the virus, rarely wearing a protective mask and urging states and cities to “reopen” and reduce or eliminate shutdown rules.

The White House does not appear to be making any changes to current virus protocol, even in the wake of the president’s diagnosis. A senior White House official said Friday that masks will still not be mandatory at the White House, describing facial coverings as “a personal choice,” despite overwhelming evidence that they help to stop the spread.

The president, his White House and his campaign have generally taken a lax approach to the pandemic, continuing to hold large events and failing to abide by social distancing recommendations.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal White House thinking, defended the current system.

Cleveland, Ohio, officials on Friday said they’re aware of 11 positive coronavirus cases related to the setup and planning for Tuesday’s presidential debate, attended by both the president and the first lady. It’s unclear where they contracted the virus.

Those officials say most of the cases stemming from the pre-debate planning and setup involved people from out of state. They say health officials are now looking into their travels.

Fox News anchor Chris Wallace says members of the Trump family didn’t wear masks while they were watching the first presidential debate. Wallace moderated the first presidential debate of the campaign.

Wallace said, “People in the hall did notice that while they were all wearing masks, including my wife and four children, that the first family did not wear masks during the debate. … It is worth noting that different people treated the safety rules inside the hall differently.”

Wallace said on “Fox & Friends” on Friday that Jill Biden, the wife of Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, and members of her group all wore masks throughout the debate.

“On the Trump side of the hall, Mrs. Trump came in wearing a mask, but took it off once she said sat down,” Wallace said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.