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WASHINGTON (AP) – United States President Donald Trump was in a military hospital Saturday for treatment after testing positive for Covid-19, an extraordinary event that disrupted the presidential race a month before the elections on May 3. November.
About 17 hours after he made his diagnosis public, Trump slowly walked from the White House to a helicopter waiting to be taken to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.
He was wearing a mask and a business suit and did not speak to reporters.
“I think I’m doing very well, but we will make sure that things work out,” Trump said in a short video message posted on Twitter.
Earlier Friday, he had tweeted that he and the first lady, Melania Trump, had contracted the virus.
Trump will work in a special suite at the hospital for the next few days as a precautionary measure, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said.
An online video showed a small group of Trump supporters outside Walter Reed late Friday waving Trump 2020 flags, most without masks.
Trump, 74, has a mild fever, according to a source familiar with the matter.
White House physician Sean P Conley said Friday night that Trump was fine, did not need supplemental oxygen and had received a first dose of remdesivir, an intravenous antiviral drug sold by Gilead Sciences Inc that has been shown to shortens hospital stays.
In a tweet late on Friday, the president wrote: “I’m doing fine I think! Thank you all. LOVE!!!”
The diagnosis was the latest setback for the Republican president, who is trailing his Democratic rival Joe Biden in opinion polls ahead of the November 3 presidential election.
Trump has downplayed the threat of the coronavirus pandemic from the start, even as the disease has killed more than 200,000 Americans and hit the American economy.
Several other prominent Republicans also tested positive Friday, including former White House Senior Adviser Kellyanne Conway and Republican Senators Mike Lee and Thom Tillis.
Vice President Mike Pence, who will assume presidential duties if Trump becomes seriously ill, tested negative, a spokesman said.
The 61-year-old former Indiana governor works from his residence several miles from the White House.
Trump is at high risk because of his age and weight.
He has remained apparently in good health during his time in office, but he is not known to exercise regularly or eat a healthy diet.
Conley said earlier on Friday that Trump received an experimental treatment, REGN-COV2 from Regeneron, one of several experimental Covid-19 drugs known as monoclonal antibodies, which are used to treat a wide range of diseases.
Trump is also taking zinc, vitamin D, famotidine, melatonin and aspirin, Conley said.
Wall Street stocks closed lower as news of Trump’s diagnosis added to mounting uncertainties surrounding the election.
Election day is coming
With just 31 days until Election Day, the Trump campaign said it would postpone rallies and other events at which it was scheduled to appear or post online.
Trump’s campaign manager Bill Stepien also tested positive for Covid-19 on Friday and will be working from home, according to a senior campaign official.
Biden pulled the ads attacking Trump from the air, but otherwise continued his campaign, traveling to Michigan on Friday after testing negative for the virus.
At a union in Grand Rapids, Biden said he was praying for his rival’s recovery.
However, he also implicitly criticized Trump, who has mocked Biden for routinely wearing a mask and has held large campaign rallies with little social distancing.
“Be a patriot,” Biden said.
“It’s not about being a tough guy.
“It’s about doing your part.”
The Republican National Committee would choose a replacement candidate if Trump were incapacitated, but in most states it is too late to change the names on the ballot.
Some 2.9 million people have already voted, according to figures compiled by University of Florida professor Michael McDonald.
Pence took care of Trump’s planned calls with governors and retiree organizations.
His Oct. 7 debate with Democratic vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris will go as planned, organizers said.
Harris also tested negative, according to the campaign.
The virus could complicate Trump’s drive to install conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett on the Supreme Court.
In addition to the president and his wife, at least four people who were at a White House event to announce the nomination of Barrett, Conway, Lee, Tillis and the president of the University of Notre Dame, John Jenkins, said Friday that they gave positive.
Lee and Tillis are members of the Republican-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee, which is scheduled to begin hearings on Barrett’s nomination on October 12.
Barrett herself tested positive for the virus earlier this year and has recovered, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Tillis, who said in a statement that he has no symptoms, will remain in isolation at home for 10 days.
Polls show fierce competition between him and Democratic challenger Cal Cunningham for his seat in North Carolina, one of the Democrats hoping to turn around in his quest to win a Senate majority in November.
Trump is the latest world leader to contract the virus.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was rushed to intensive care after falling seriously ill in March.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro called the virus a “little flu” after being infected in July.
Both men recovered.
