President Donald Trump announced on Twitter early Friday morning that he and First Lady Melania Trump have “tested positive for COVID-19.”
“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 wrote.
On the debate stage Tuesday, Trump mocked Democratic presidential nominee and former vice president, Mr. Joe Biden for wearing a mask.
“Every time you see him, he’s got a mask,” Trump said, as Biden laughed. “He could be speaking 200 feet away from it. And he shows up with the biggest mask I’ve ever seen.”
Trump announced his coronavirus disease status about two hours after he said that he and the first lady were “waiting for our test results,” following the news that Hope Hicks, a top White House aide with whom they had recently traveled on Air Force One, had tested positive.
“Hope Hicks, who has been working so hard without even taking a small break, has just tested positive for Covid 19,” Trump wrote. “Terrible! The First Lady and I are waiting for our test results. In the meantime, we will begin our quarantine process!”
The White House did not say how long Trump would have to remain isolated, but it canceled his plans to fly to Florida for a campaign rally on Friday, stripping his public schedule for the day of everything except a midday telephone call “on Covid-19 support to vulnerable seniors.”
Appearances at rallies in Wisconsin on Saturday and in Arizona on Monday also appear sure to be scrapped, and the next debate, scheduled for Oct. 15 in Miami, was left up in the air.
During late-night conversations, aides to Trump were discussing whether he should give an address to the nation on Friday from the White House or find some other way for him to reassure the public.
But the aides were still in a state of shock as they absorbed the news, and there was no immediate word on how far the infection may have spread among senior White House officials, who generally do not wear masks in deference to the president’s disdain for them.
Analysts said Trump’s positive test result posed immediate challenges for the future of his campaign against Biden, with barely a month until election day.
Even if Trump, 74, remains asymptomatic, he will lose much of his remaining time on the campaign trail.
If he becomes sick, it could raise questions about whether he should remain on the ballot at all.
At 74, Trump is at increased risk for serious complications from COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.
His testing positive could also have major implications for the presidential election, which is just 32 days away.
Trump’s doctor, Sean Conley, said in a statement that “the President and the First Lady are both well at this time, and they plan to remain at home within the White House during their convalescence.”
Trump, who trails Biden in most national and key swing state polls, had planned numerous campaign events in the coming days. Sickness or a lengthy quarantine could prevent Trump from attending the next scheduled debate with Biden on Oct. 15, or from campaigning in the final stretch.
Shortly after Trump’s announcement, the first lady sent out her own tweet.
“As too many Americans have done this year, @potus & I are quarantining at home after testing positive for COVID-19,” she wrote. “We are feeling good & I have postponed all upcoming engagements. Please be sure you are staying safe & we will all get through this together.”
Only three world leaders are known to have tested positive for COVID-19: Trump, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, all of whom initially underestimated the threat of the virus.
In recorded interviews with journalist Bob Woodward, Trump admitted that he did not want to overplay the threat of COVID-19 to the American people. “I wanted to always play it down,” Trump told Woodward in March. “I still like playing it down, because I don’t want to create a panic.”
During the pandemic, the president has continued to travel and hold some large events around the country, many in violation of local social distancing regulations.
At these events, the president and his staff regularly appear without masks, although supporters are regularly offered face coverings.
Trump has also held events at the White House where few masks have been seen. Lax social distancing protocols are the norm, for example at the crowded September 26 ceremony in the Rose Garden, when the president unveiled his nominee to the Supreme Court, Amy Coney Barrett, before a large crowd.
Trump and his staff reportedly did not wear masks at the debate venue.
Biden and his aides did wear masks at the event, though Biden appeared without a mask onstage with Trump.
The pair did not shake hands and stayed some distance apart, as dictated by protocols put in place by the Cleveland Clinic, which co-hosted the event.
In the wake of the news about Hicks, Biden’s campaign reportedly asked a member of the media who was scheduled to travel with him on Friday not to join the press pool, because the reporter in question had traveled to Minnesota on board Air Force One with Trump and Hicks.
With Yahoo News, The News York Times reports
