US President Trump, test positive for first lady Melania Covid-19
President Donald Trump announced early Friday that he and his wife both tested positive for the coronavirus, an extraordinary development coming months into a global pandemic and in the final stretch of his reelection campaign in which he has flouted experts' guidance on preventing the disease's spread.
US president Donald Trump and first lady Melania have tested positive for coronavirus and will go into quarantine, the US president tweeted late on Thursday evening hours after one of his most senior advisor, Hope Hicks, was reported to have contracted the infection. Hicks had travelled with the president on multiple trips this week including abroad Marine One, the presidential helicopter, and Air Force One. It is not immediately clear how Trump contracted the virus that has infected over 7 million Americans and killed more than 200,000.
The diagnosis amounts to the most serious known health threat to a sitting American president in decades. At 74 years old and obese, Trump falls into the highest risk category for serious complications from the disease, which has killed more than 200,000 Americans and more than 1 million people worldwide.
His infection with the disease could prove destabilizing in an already fraught political climate, and stock market futures tumbled on news of Trump's infection.
Trump announced his health status on Twitter, saying they will “begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately. We will get through this TOGETHER!,” he said.
"Tonight, @FLOTUS and I tested positive for COVID-19. We will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately. We will get through this TOGETHER!" Trump tweeted shortly before 1 a.m. Friday.
New agency Reuters said Trump had kept up a rigorous travel schedule across the country in recent weeks, holding rallies with thousands of people in the run-up to the Nov. 3 election, despite warnings from public health professionals against having events with large crowds.
Trump had a packed schedule for Friday too including a private fund-raiser at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, a campaign rally in Florida and a call with “vulnerable seniors” about the disease.
The infection would impact Trump’s ability to campaign in person for the presidential elections. There is no clarity from his office if he will continue to address events over video but his new schedule just lists a midday phone call on “Covid-19 support to vulnerable seniors.”
In a memo issued to reporters around 1 a.m. ET, the President's physician, Navy Cmdr. Dr. Sean Conley, wrote that he received confirmation of the positive tests on Thursday evening.
"The President and First Lady are both well at this time, and they plan to remain at home within the White House during their convalescence," Conley wrote.
"The White House medical team and I will maintain a vigilant watch, and I appreciate the support provided by some of our country's greatest medical professionals and institutions," Conley wrote, without elaborating what assistance was being provided to the White House.
"Rest assured I expect the President to continue carrying out his duties without disruption while recovering, and I will keep you updated on any further developments," he wrote.
The President had said late Thursday night that he planned to quarantine after one of his closest aides, Hope Hicks, tested positive for the infection, bringing the disease into his innermost circle. Earlier in the night, he had downplayed the virus' continued spread.
"The end of the pandemic is in sight," he said during prerecorded remarks at the annual Al Smith dinner, held virtually because of the health crisis.
Trump has also repeatedly insisted the country is "rounding the corner" on the disease and claimed the virus would "disappear," though even health experts within his own administration said those claims did not reflect reality.
Getting infected himself with coronavirus will do little to further his claims that the disease is waning, and undercut his push for states to reopen schools and businesses. Trump has complained during recent rallies about Democratic governors who have maintained strict lockdowns to prevent the spread of the virus.
Trump has blatantly disregarded medical recommendations from his own coronavirus task force during the pandemic, proceeding with a busy schedule of packed campaign rallies. Most recently, his supporters stuffed into events in Minnesota and Pennsylvania.
Those events appear on hold for now as the President stays at the White House. Long guarded about his medical history, the President's most recent physical showed he weighed 243 pounds -- considered obese for his height. Still, Conley said he was in "very good health" in a readout of the exam.
Aside from Hicks, several of the President's aides have tested positive for the coronavirus since the pandemic began ravaging the country earlier this year. In May, two White House staffers, including a member of the Navy who serves as one of Trump's personal valets, tested positive for the virus, and in July a cafeteria employee on the White House grounds tested positive as well. The vice president's press secretary has tested positive, as did the President's national security adviser Robert O'Brien. The President confirmed a fourth positive case on White House grounds last month.
Trump has previously expressed concern that aides contracting the coronavirus would undercut his message that the outbreak is waning and states should accelerate reopening, according to a person who had spoken with him.
And he asked in the spring how it was possible that one of his valets -- responsible for handling his food and drink -- could have come into contact with him.
The White House has since gone to great lengths to shield Trump and Vice President Mike Pence from the outbreak, even as they travel to states where cases are surging.
The president’s physician Sean Conley said Donald Trump and Melania “are both well at this time, and they plan to remain at home within the White House during their convalescence”.
“Rest assured, I expect the President to continue carrying out his duties without disruption while recovering,” Dr Conley said in a statement.
White House spokesman Jude Deere said that contacts for Trump and Melania Trump are being traced. Bloomberg said the positive outcome of the 74-year-old president's handling of the epidemic is already likely to grab public attention as he campaigned for re-election against Democrat Joe Biden, who leads in national elections.
