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WASHINGTON (REUTERS) – US President Donald Trump, eager to return to the election campaign after being sidelined by a Covid-19 infection, will begin with remarks to supporters in the White House at an on-air event. free on Saturday (October 10). .
A White House official said Trump will address the crowd from a balcony on a “law and order” topic.
A source familiar with the situation said the crowd could number in the hundreds and all were expected to wear masks.
Questions remain as to whether Trump, who announced on October 2 that he had the virus and spent three nights in a military hospital, is still contagious.
Trump told Fox News that he was likely to be tested for the virus on Friday.
The disease has prevented the Republican president from holding public rallies and attending fundraisers at a critical time in the campaign. He is trailing Democratic rival Joe Biden in opinion polls with just a few weeks before the Nov.3 election.
White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany said the president was working hard and ready to go as soon as he got his doctor’s approval, telling Fox News: “He wants to talk to the American people and he wants to be there.” .
Trump and his administration have faced criticism for their broad handling of the pandemic, as well as a lax approach to mask wearing and social distancing in the White House and, in recent days, mixed messages about how ill the president has been. .
With Trump’s handling of the pandemic dominating the campaign, a new Reuters / Ipsos poll showed Americans steadily losing confidence in how he has handled the health crisis, with their net approval on the issue reaching a new low.
White House physician Sean Conley said in a memo posted Thursday that Trump had completed his course of therapy for Covid-19, has been stable since returning home from Walter Reed Medical Center on Monday, and could resume. public engagements on Saturday.
“Medical tests are underway that will ensure that when the president retires he will not be able to transmit the virus,” McEnany said, adding that Conley would explain the details later. “It will not be out there if it can transmit the virus.”
McEnany is one of a number of Trump aides, including his campaign manager, who have tested positive for an outbreak of the virus in the past week within the White House and the Trump campaign.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease physician, told MSNBC on Thursday that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s guide says a patient is considered infectious for 10 days. from the onset of symptoms or up to two negative molecular diagnostic tests 24 hours apart. .
The White House has declined to say when Trump last tested negative for the disease.
IN-AIR ASSESSMENT
Trump was scheduled to do an on-camera interview with Fox News Friday night, his first since he was diagnosed.
Fittingly, given that Trump is a former reality star, Fox said in a press release that Dr. Marc Siegel “will conduct a medical evaluation and interview during the show.”
Biden has continued to campaign through Trump’s illness, with events scheduled for Friday in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Biden, a former vice president who has harshly criticized Trump’s handling of the pandemic, leads national polls, but the lead is smaller in some of the swing states that may determine the outcome of the election.
On Friday afternoon, Trump told conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh that he was working to get the coronavirus antibody drugs developed by Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and Eli Lilly and Co quickly approved and shipped to hospitals after his own experience. .
She may not have recovered without those treatments to combat her illness, she said, adding that her doctors at one point told her: “You could have been very bad. You were entering a very bad phase. “
The Trump and Biden campaigns were contested Thursday during a televised debate that had been planned for next week.
Trump withdrew from the event scheduled for Oct. 15 after the nonpartisan debate committee said it would take place virtually, with the candidates in separate venues, due to security concerns after Trump contracted Covid-19.
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