WASHINGTON, Oct 2, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – US President Donald Trump has tested
positive for Covid-19 along with First Lady Melania Trump but is “well” and
will continue to perform his duties while quarantined at the White House, his
doctor said Friday.
Trump, who first announced the news of his positive test shortly before on
Twitter, wrote: “We will get through this TOGETHER!”
The White House canceled his planned campaign rally in the crucial swing
state of Florida on Friday.
Just 32 days before the November 3 election against Democrat Joe Biden and
behind in the polls, it also looked certain that Trump would have to cancel a
slew of other trips scheduled for this weekend and next week.
Trump’s official physician, Sean Conley, said in a statement that the
president and his wife “are both well at this time and they plan to remain
home at the White House during their convalescence.”
Conley said: “I expect the president to continue carrying out his duties
without disruption while recovering.”
– Close aide gets virus –
The shock news came right after one of Trump’s closest advisors, Hope
Hicks, was reported Thursday to have come down with the virus.
Hicks traveled with Trump to Cleveland for his first debate with Biden on
Tuesday. She was with him again for a campaign rally in Minnesota on
Wednesday.
With Hicks sharing Trump’s Air Force One plane and the even more cramped
confines of the Marine One helicopter, speculation immediately erupted that
Trump and possibly many others in his close entourage were exposed.
Trump was giving an interview on Fox News late Thursday when he confirmed
the Hicks news and said he had been tested.
“You know I spend a lot of time with Hope, and so does the first lady,”
Trump said.
– Rosy view –
Trump says the United States has put behind the worst of the coronavirus
pandemic, which has killed more than 200,000 Americans, and he rarely wears a
mask, noting that he receives frequent testing.
However, his own health experts have often given less rosy assessments of
the state of the pandemic in the world’s richest country.
And Trump has been sharply criticized for holding large rallies where few
supporters wear masks. He himself has given mixed signals to the public on
the need for wearing masks at all.
White House spokesman Judd Deere earlier said “the president takes the
health and safety of himself and everyone who works in support of him and the
American people very seriously.”
Deere said the White House takes care to follow procedures “for limiting
Covid-19 exposure to the greatest extent possible both on complex and when
the president is traveling.”