In a day of sporadic events, the president who has spent months downplaying the threat of the virus was forced to cancel all campaign events a month before the election while fighting a virus that has killed more than 205,000 Americans and is striking to others in its orbit. too.
The White House said TriumphThe planned stay of “a few days” at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center was a precaution and he would continue to work from the hospital’s presidential suite, which is equipped to enable him to fulfill his official duties.
Triumph left the White House on Friday night wearing a mask and gave reporters a thumbs up, but did not speak before boarding Marine One. Crew members, Secret Service agents, and White House staff they covered their faces to protect themselves from the president aboard the helicopter.
In a video recorded before leaving for Walter Reed, Triumph He said, “I think I’m doing great, but we’re going to make sure things work out.” He remained fully president, with all authority intact.
Just one month before the presidential election, TriumphThe revelation that he was positive for the virus came from a tweet around 1 a.m. Friday, after he returned from a political fundraiser Thursday afternoon. He had run ahead of the event, saying nothing to the crowd, even though he knew that he had been exposed to an attendee with the disease that has infected millions in the United States and killed more than a million worldwide.
First lady melania Triumph They also tested positive, the president said, and several others in the White House have as well, raising concern that the White House or even Triumph he himself could have spread the virus further. He said in his video that his wife was doing very well.
TriumphThe diagnosis came during an already turbulent period in Washington and around the world, with the United States locked in a heated presidential election amid the human and economic toll of the virus. TriumphAll immediate campaign events were canceled and his next debate with Democrat Joe Biden, scheduled for Oct. 15, is now in doubt.
Triumph has been trying all year and as recently as Wednesday to convince the American public that the worst of the pandemic is over, and has always downplayed concerns about being personally vulnerable. For the most part, he has refused to abide by basic public health guidelines, including those issued by his own administration, such as covering his face in public and practicing social distancing. Until he tested positive, he continued to hold campaign rallies that drew thousands of supporters, often without a mask.
“I didn’t feel any vulnerability,” he told reporters in May. With elections coming up a month away, he is urging states and cities to “ reopen ” and reduce or eliminate closure rules despite continued outbreaks. virus.
The White House tried to maintain a business atmosphere as usual on Friday.
“President Triumph she’s still in good spirits, has mild symptoms, and has been working all day, ” said press secretary Kayleigh McEnany. “As a precaution, and on the recommendation of his physician and medical experts, the president will work from the presidential offices of Walter Reed for the next few days.”
The president’s doctor said in a memo that Triumph received one dose of an experimental Regeneron antibody combination that is in clinical trials. Navy Commander Dr. Sean Conley said Triumph “He’s still tired but in a good mood” and that a team of experts was assessing both the president and the first lady on next steps.
The 50-year-old first lady has a “mild cough and headache,” Conley reported, and the rest of the first family, including the Trumps’ son Barron, who lives in the White House, tested negative.
Triumph He is 74 years old and clinically obese, putting him at higher risk for serious complications from a virus that has infected more than 7 million people nationwide.
Both Democratic presidential candidate Biden and his running mate, Kamala Harris, tested negative, his campaign said. Vice President Mike Pence tested negative for the virus on Friday morning and “ continues to be in good health, ” his spokesman said. Pence would resume his campaign program after his test.
TriumphSupreme Court nominee Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who was with him and many others on Saturday and has been in a Capitol meeting with lawmakers, also tested negative, the White House said. It was confirmed that she had a mild case of COVID earlier this year and has now recovered.
At least two Republican lawmakers at Saturday’s rose garden event announcing Barrett’s nomination, Utah Sen. Mike Lee and North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis, announced Friday that they had tested positive and were isolating.
Very early on Friday, after returning from the Thursday afternoon fundraiser in New Jersey, Triumph He amazingly tweeted: “Tonight, (on) FLOTUS and I tested positive for COVID-19. We will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately. We will get through it TOGETHER!”
Hours earlier, the White House confirmed that a high-level aide who had traveled with him during the week had tested positive.
White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows confirmed Friday that the White House knew Hope Hicks, the assistant, had tested positive before. Triumph attended the fundraiser.
“I can tell you in terms of Hope Hicks, we found out just as Marine One was taking off yesterday,” Meadows said. Several staff members were removed from the trip, but Triumph she did not cancel and there was no direct evidence that her illness was related to his.
Many senior White House and administration officials were tested on Friday, but the full scale of the outbreak around the president may not be known for some time, as it can take days for an infection to be detectable by a test. Officials from the White House Medical Unit were tracking the president’s contacts.
TriumphHandling the pandemic has already been a major flash point in his career against Biden, who spent much of the summer off-season and at his home in Delaware citing concern about the virus. Since then, Biden has resumed a more active campaign program, but with small and socially distant crowds. He also regularly wears a mask in public, something Triumph mocked him in the debate on Tuesday night.
“I don’t wear masks like him” Triumph He said. “Every time you see him, he has a mask on. He could be talking 200 feet from me, and he appears with the largest mask I have ever seen.”
In a tweet Friday morning, Biden said that he and his wife “send our thoughts to the president. Triumph and the first lady melania Triumph for a speedy recovery. We will continue to pray for the health and safety of the President and his family. ”
World leaders offered the president and the first family their best wishes after their diagnosis, and governments used the case as a reminder for their citizens to wear masks and practice social distancing measures.
Several White House staff members have previously tested positive for the virus, including Pence’s press secretary Katie Miller, national security adviser Robert O’Brien and one of the president’s personal aides. An RNC official confirmed Friday that President Ronna McDaniel learned that she had tested positive on Wednesday afternoon. She has been at her home in Michigan since last Saturday and did not attend the debate.
It’s unclear where the Trumps or Hicks contracted the virus, but in a Fox interview, Triumph seemed to suggest that it may have been spread by someone in the military or law enforcement in the salutes.
The White House began instituting a daily testing regimen for the president’s top advisers after previous positive cases close to the president. Anyone close to the president or vice president is also tested every day, including journalists.
Triumph He is far from the first world leader to test positive for the virus, which previously infected Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who spent a week in hospital, including three nights in intensive care. Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was hospitalized last month while battling what he called a “ hellish ” case of Covid-19.
.
