President Trump Resumes Duty, The president, aged 74, announced the news in a tweet
President Donald Trump has announced that he and his wife, Melania Trump, tested positive for the cornavirus and were in quarantine. The president, aged 74, announced the news in a tweet.
“Tonight, @FLOTUS and I tested positive for COVID-19,” Mr. Trump tweeted. “We will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately. We will get through this TOGETHER!”
This comes after one of Trump’s closest aides tested positive for coronavirus. Hope Hicks, adviser to the president, is the closest aide to Mr Trump to test positive so far. Prior to his tweet announcing that they tested positive, President Trump had said he and his wife were going into quarantine after Ms Hicks’s positive test. He tweeted: “Hope Hicks, who has been working so hard without even taking a small break, has just tested positive for Covid 19. Terrible! The First Lady and I are waiting for our test results. In the meantime, we will begin our quarantine process!
In her own tweet about 30 minutes later, The First Lady of the United States, Mrs. Melania Trump, wrote that the first couple were “feeling good,” but the White House did not say whether they were experiencing symptoms. The president’s physician said he could carry out his duties “without disruption” from the Executive Mansion.
President Donald Trump, who for months has watered down the severity of the virus and hours earlier had told an audience that “the end of the pandemic is in sight,” will quarantine in the White House for an unspecified period of time, forcing him to withdraw temporarily from the campaign trail only a number of days before the election on Nov. 3.
Ever since the outbreak of the virus, Donald Trump has refused to wear a mask in public on all but a few occasions and has repeatedly questioned their effectiveness. And recently at their opening debate, he mocked Mr. Biden for wearing one. “I don’t wear masks like him,” the president said, his voice dripping with derision. “Every time you see him, he’s got a mask.”
A swath of Trump’s inner circle of allies have also tested positive for the virus, including press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, assistant press staffers Chad Gilmartin, Karoline Leavitt and Jalen Drummond, aide Nick Luna, adviser Hope Hicks and former White House counsel Kellyanne Conway, as well as Miller. A military valet and another assistant press staffer, both unnamed so far, have also been infected.
In a video meant to demonstrate his return to work after some days at the hospital, President Donald Trump said his coronavirus infection was a “blessing from God” because it has educated him about potential drugs to treat the disease. Trump also promised to provide the drugs produced by Regeneron Pharmaceuticals free of charge. He said the experimental antibody cocktail he was given was more of a cure than a therapeutic measure, adding that hundreds of thousands of doses were nearly ready.
“This was a blessing in disguise. I caught it, I heard about this drug, I said let me take it and it was incredible,” he said, adding that he would seek emergency use authorisations for the drugs. President Trump renewed his attacks on China, telling Americans: “You’re not going to pay for it. It wasn’t your fault that this happened. It was China’s fault. And China is going to pay a big price. This was China’s fault.”
The appearance, his first since returning from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, was taped Wednesday afternoon in the Rose Garden by White House staff. Trump seemed upbeat, but his voice still sounded breathless at points and he appeared to be wearing make-up.
