[ad_1]
Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said in a statement that medical experts recommended that Trump “work from the presidential offices of Walter Reed for the next few days.”
The hospitalization indicated an intense effort to ensure that the president’s supposedly “mild” symptoms do not deteriorate.
The development also highlighted the uncharted waters for the November 3 US election, with Trump lagging far behind his Democratic opponent Joe Biden in the polls, having to freeze much of his campaign.
READ: Donald Trump tests positive for COVID-19
At first, advisers gave optimistic assessments, and Trump’s chief of staff Mark Meadows said the 74-year-old president had only mild symptoms, was in a “good mood” and felt “very energetic.”
Later on Friday, a letter from White House physician Sean Conley indicated something more serious.
Conley said Trump received a single dose of Regeneron’s antibody cocktail, a treatment that is in clinical trials but has yet to be approved by regulators.
“It is being evaluated by a team of experts, and together we will make recommendations to the president and the first lady regarding the next best steps,” Conley wrote.
– Biden on his own –
Trump’s illness turned the race for the White House upside down, and Biden suddenly found himself alone on the campaign trail, and was able to argue that his clearly more cautious approach to Covid-19 had been vindicated.
Biden has made Trump’s frequent downplaying of the pandemic and mixed messages about wearing masks a central campaign theme, arguing that the president is to blame for the scale of the crisis in the United States, where more than 200,000 people.
Trump has repeatedly tried to shift the narrative to areas where he feels strongest, such as the economy, only to be lured again by the coronavirus catastrophe in which he is now the highest-profile patient in the country.
LEE: China says Trump ‘spreads political virus’ at the UN
Biden, who was very close to Trump for 90 minutes during his first temper debate Tuesday in Cleveland, announced that he and his wife Jill were tested on Friday and tested negative.
Underscoring his sudden lead in the bitter career, the 77-year-old Biden traveled to Grand Rapids, Michigan, and followed through with a previously scheduled campaign stoppage.
Biden said he was praying for Trump and his family, and his campaign announced that it would remove all negative ads.
However, Biden also reminded Americans that he has consistently pushed to take the coronavirus seriously, unlike his opponent, who has repeatedly mocked the Democrat for his rigorous use of masks, but now finds himself infected.
“Be a patriot,” Biden told supporters in Michigan through a blue surgical mask. “It’s not about being a tough guy. It’s about doing your part.”
– Well-founded campaign –
Trump’s shock diagnosis was a major blow to his re-election effort, prompting a freeze on plans to raze the country in an attempt to catch up on polls with Biden.
The Trump campaign said all planned events involving the president were postponed or going virtual, starting with the cancellation of a rally on Friday in Florida, a Saturday in Wisconsin and others in western states like Arizona next week.
Even the second Trump-Biden debate, scheduled for October 15, is now in doubt.
Rallies are such a key part of the Trump brand that his sudden inability to travel leaves the campaign struggling to reinvent its strategy. Additionally, Trump has made his argument that the dangers of the coronavirus are exaggerated at a central point on his re-election platform.
– Contact tracking –
News of Trump’s infection came after one of his closest advisers, Hope Hicks, tested positive, sparking fears that a cluster of cases was emanating from the heart of the White House.
Trump met with dozens of people during the week and reportedly went to a fundraiser in New Jersey after it emerged that Hicks had contracted the virus.
The White House said it was conducting contact tracing, while Melania Trump’s spokeswoman said the couple’s 14-year-old son, Barron, had tested negative.
Vice President Mike Pence and other high-level figures were tested and announced negative. The White House said Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett was also negative.
READ: Trump ‘feels good’ after testing positive for COVID-19
In his 70s and technically obese, Trump is in a higher risk category.
Daniel Griffin, an infectious disease specialist in the New York area, told AFP that Trump had an estimated 20 percent chance of developing a serious illness that required oxygenation.
As the news shook world stock markets, leaders like Germany’s Angela Merkel and Britain’s Boris Johnson wished the president and first lady a speedy recovery, while Russia’s Vladimir Putin predicted that Trump’s “vitality, good spirits and optimism” I would carry it out.
Trump’s predecessor Barack Obama said the United States is “in the middle of a great political fight” but put aside the bitter electoral battle to extend “best wishes” to the president and the first lady.
“We are all Americans and we are all human beings, and we want to make sure everyone is healthy,” he said.
