US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump have tested positive for Covid-19 and will immediately go into quarantine, the president tweeted Thursday night.
“Tonight, @FLOTUS and I tested positive for COVID-19,” Trump said in the tweet, less than two hours after posting that his close assistant Hope Hicks had tested positive.
“We will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately. We will get out of this TOGETHER! “
The tweet raised immediate concerns about the health of the president, who is in his 70s and obese.
Trump had tweeted earlier in the night that he and the first lady began “our quarantine process” after one of his closest advisers, Hope Hicks, who had traveled with him several times in recent days, tested positive.
“Hope Hicks, who has been working so hard without even taking a little break, just tested positive for Covid 19,” President Trump tweeted. “Terrible! The First Lady and I are awaiting the results of our tests. In the meantime, we will begin our quarantine process!”
Look at ‘We will pass this together’: Trump and Melania test positive for Covid-19
Hicks had traveled with Trump and his team on Air Force One to Cleveland, Ohio, for the first presidential debate. She also traveled with Trump to his rally in Duluth, Minnesota, on Wednesday and was seen in close contact with senior members of the president’s campaign.
According to the rules set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), people who were in close contact with Hicks must be quarantined. That would include the president, the first lady, and leading members of the president’s re-election campaign.
Bloomberg, who first reported that Hicks tested positive, said she had felt ill in Minnesota and self-quarantined on the way back on the presidential plane.
“The President takes the health and safety of himself and all who work to support him and the American people very seriously,” White House spokesman Judd Deere said in a statement.
“White House Operations collaborates with the President’s physician and the White House Military Office to ensure that all plans and procedures incorporate current CDC guidance and best practices to limit exposure to Covid-19 at the highest level. possible measure, both in complex situations and when the president is traveling. “
Hicks is the fourth White House staff member to test positive for coronavirus, following a personal military valet to the president, a member of the vice president’s staff and national security adviser Robert O’Brien. But Hicks has been the closest of all to the president, who had been on a 10-day course of hydroxychloroquine, an antimalarial drug.
More than 207,000 Americans have died from Covid-19 and millions have been infected. President Trump has refused to take responsibility for them and has been blamed for their failed response to the pandemic, despite his fervent claims to the contrary, citing travel closures.
More egregious has been his outspoken skepticism about the use of face masks and social distancing rules. He rarely uses one despite professing his full endorsement of masks.
.
