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WASHINGTON (BLOOMBERG) – US President Donald Trump said Thursday night (October 1) that Hope Hicks, one of his closest aides, has tested positive for the novel coronavirus and was recently tested and is waiting for a result.
“She tested positive. I just found out about this, ”Trump said in an interview on Fox News, about two hours after Bloomberg News first reported Hicks’s positive test.
“I just went out for a test, they told me I’d be back later I guess, and the first lady too because we spent a lot of time with Hope and others. Then we will see what happens ”, he added.
Ms. Hicks traveled with Trump aboard Air Force One to and from the presidential debate in Cleveland on Tuesday and a rally in Minnesota on Wednesday. She was feeling unwell in Minnesota and was quarantined aboard the presidential plane on her way home, according to people familiar with the matter.
The people asked not to be identified because Hicks’ infection had not been publicly announced until Trump’s interview. Messages left for Ms. Hicks were not immediately returned.
“I will receive my exam tonight or tomorrow morning,” Trump said. He said he was “shocked” by Hicks’ infection, noting that he often wears a mask. “He is a very warm person,” he said.
Hicks is the latest person in Trump’s orbit to contract the virus, which has infected more than 7.2 million Americans and killed more than 200,000. Other senior personnel contracted Covid-19 and recovered, including National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien, but few spend as much time with the president as Ms. Hicks, whose service dates back to her 2016 campaign.
Some people close to Hicks were told that he was experiencing symptoms of the disease.
“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. “
The development is likely to inflame criticism of the Trump administration’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, as well as the president’s disregard for public health measures to combat it.
Trump rarely wears a mask and has disparaged his re-election challenger Joe Biden for routinely covering his face. The president has resumed holding large campaign rallies in which thousands of his supporters gather, shoulder to shoulder, few in masks.
Most events are held outdoors at airports, but two recent events in Arizona and Nevada were indoors, an environment that public health experts warn increases the risk of virus transmission.
Hicks traveled with Trump to the debate with Biden on Tuesday and to a rally in Minnesota on Wednesday. Trump’s entourage entered the debating room without covering their faces, or took them off when they sat down, and turned down an offer of masks from a Cleveland Clinic doctor, who was a co-host of the event.
Biden’s guests wore masks.
Ms. Hicks was seen unmasked Tuesday in a staff van with White House senior adviser Stephen Miller, campaign adviser Jason Miller and others.
When they returned to Washington on Tuesday, Stephen Miller and Hicks were seen sharing an umbrella as they exited Air Force One in the rain. Miller’s wife, Katie Miller, press secretary to Vice President Mike Pence, recovered from Covid-19 earlier this year.
Ms. Hicks felt unwell in Minnesota on Wednesday and was quarantined aboard Air Force One during the return flight, according to people familiar with the matter. She tested positive for the virus on Thursday.
Trump is tested regularly, although it is unclear exactly how often. People who work in the White House are tested every day, including members of the press corps, and anyone scheduled to meet with the president is screened beforehand.
Trump’s staff wear masks when traveling with him aboard the presidential helicopter, Marine One, and Ms. Hicks observed that protocol this week.
But his aides worry that Trump’s lack of sleep during the final stretch of the presidential campaign leaves him especially vulnerable to infection. The president did not return to the White House until after midnight after his trips on Tuesday and Wednesday. Trump’s age, 74, also puts him at higher risk for serious illness from the virus.
A person familiar with the debate committee’s testing protocols said there should have been no mixing between Trump and Biden’s campaign staff in Cleveland, and that there were separate entrances and rooms for both groups. The person added that everyone in the discussion room had to be tested 72 hours before the event, and everyone traveling with Biden and the main people in his campaign had to be certified by medical personnel who had tested negative for the virus. .
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