The White House offered an informal nod to coronavirus best practices Tuesday, with mask-wearing prevalent after months of flouting public health recommendations and new internal guidelines for interacting with President Trump, who tested positive for the virus late last week.

But the biggest source of resistance appeared to be Trump himself, who, despite having just come home from a three-night hospitalization, was defiant — lobbying to return immediately to work in the Oval Office, discussing an address to the nation as early as Tuesday evening and clamoring to get back on the campaign trail in the coming days…

“We feel comfortable working here, those of us who are still here,” Alyssa Farah, the White House communications director, said in an interview with Fox News on Tuesday.

Privately, however, career administration officials and mid-level and junior staffers say they are scared — nervous about coming into work and wary of being the next to test positive.

Some entire corridors of the West Wing were empty Tuesday. A number of advisers who said they had worked in the White House in recent days did not return with Trump back in the building. Don’t let it dominate your life.”