Paul Farhi: “If someone walks into that White House briefing room with an infection, we’re all going home.”

The reporters acknowledge that they are at risk for becoming sick and spreading it to family members. But say they want to keep at it because the story is too important to abandon. . . .

The number of journalists and technicians permitted to enter the briefing room—a rectangular space built over the old indoor swimming pool enjoyed by President Roosevelt in the 1930s—was cut sharply on Monday by order of the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA).

The organization, which represents journalists in negotiations with White House officials, cut the number of available seats in half and mandated that only reporters with assigned seats could enter. The order has thinned the ranks in the press room and work area from around 100 people on a typical day to about 30. Reporters now sit during briefings with an empty seat between them, creating an unusual sight: a presidential news conference in a half-empty room. . . .

ABC News reporter Jonathan Karl, the WHCA’s president, noted that his organization typically presses the White House for more briefings and access for reporters, and so it’s ironic to be restricting access now. But he said the changes are necessary to preserve the news media’s ability to keep covering the president and to keep journalists healthy. . . .

Reporters say they are aware of the fragile state of their daily work. A single positive test for the virus among a member of the press corps or White House staff would likely put an end to in-person briefings. This would force reporters and government officials to devise an alternative, such as holding the briefings via remote audio or video hookups—a technological possibility but inferior to actually being there.