Donald Trump experiencing 'mild symptoms' of coronavirus: White House
===========================
Donald Trump experiencing 'mild symptoms' of coronavirus: White House
Thursday night on Fox News, U.S. President Donald Trump confirmed he 'just went for a test' for the novel coronavirus, but made no mention of having received results. A few hours later, Trump tweeted that he and his wife had tested positive. 0:31
U.S. President Donald Trump is experiencing "mild symptoms" of COVID-19, the White House said Friday, after he revealed that he and his wife, Melania, tested positive for the coronavirus, a stunning announcement that plunges the country deeper into uncertainty just a month before the presidential election.
Mark Meadows, Trump's chief of staff, would not specify what symptoms the president was experiencing while speaking to reporters, but tried to strike a calming tone.
"The American people can rest assured that we have a president that is not only on the job, will remain on the job and I'm optimistic that he'll have a very quick and speedy recovery," said Meadows.
Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell added in a tweet that the president was "in good spirits."
Symptoms of COVID-19 can include fever, cough and breathing trouble. Most people develop only mild symptoms. But some people, usually those with other medical complications, develop more severe symptoms, including pneumonia, which can be fatal.
Trump's positive test came just hours after he confirmed that senior aide Hope Hicks, who had travelled with him several times this week, had come down with the virus. Trump was last seen by reporters returning to the White House on Thursday evening and looked to be in good health.
Trump is 74 years old, putting him at higher risk of serious complications from a virus that has now killed more than 205,000 people in the U.S.
"Tonight, (at)FLOTUS and I tested positive for COVID-19. We will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately. We will get through this TOGETHER!" Trump tweeted.
In a memorandum, the president's physician said that Trump and his wife, who is 50, "are both well at this time" and "plan to remain at home within the White House during their convalescence."
The diagnosis, just weeks before the Nov. 3 election, marks a major blow for a president who has been trying desperately to convince the American public that the worst of the pandemic is behind them, despite a growing national death toll of more than 205,000 and an unemployment rate of nearly eight per cent. It stands as the most serious known public health scare encountered by any sitting American president in recent history.
Biden resumes campaign
Trump's handling of the pandemic has become a major flashpoint in his race against Democrat Joe Biden, who spent much of the summer off the campaign trail.
Biden tweeted on Friday afternoon that he and his wife, Jill, had tested negative for the virus. Earlier, the couple said they were praying for the health and safety of the president's family.
Biden planned to campaign at a scheduled event in Michigan. Since September, Biden has resumed a more active campaign schedule, but with small, physically distanced crowds and the candidate regularly wearing a mask.
"I don't wear masks like him," Trump said at their debate Tuesday. "Every time you see him, he's got a mask. He could be speaking 200 feet away from me, and he shows up with the biggest mask I've ever seen.
Biden's running mate, Kamala Harris, has also tested negative for the virus, their campaign said.
While there is currently no evidence that Trump is seriously ill, scenarios exist where if the president was unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, Vice-President Mike Pence would "immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President."
Pence and his wife, Karen, tested negative for the coronavirus, the White House said Friday morning.
A number of world leaders sent their best wishes to the president and his wife for a speedy recovery, including Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who spent time in isolation as a precaution early in the pandemic after his wife, Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, tested positive.
'A brazen invitation'
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she had been tested out of an abundance of caution but has yet to receive the results. She told MSNBC in an interview Friday morning that she hoped the president's result would prove a learning experience for skeptics.
"This is tragic. It's very sad," said Pelosi. "But it also is something — going into crowds, unmasked, and all the rest — was sort of a brazen invitation for something like this to happen."
Pelosi said Steven Mnuchin, the treasury secretary trying to negotiate with Democrats and Republicans in Congress on a new coronavirus relief package, has tested negative.
Watch | Science vs. politics and the COVID-19 vaccine:
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden says he and his running mate Kamala Harris trust the scientists when it comes to the COVID-19 vaccine prompting Donald Trump to question Biden's intelligence. 1:54
A White House aide said in a tweet that Trump's daughter, Ivanka, and son-in-law Jared Kushner have tested negative while the Republican National Committee said in a statement that chair Ronna McDaniel tested positive on Wednesday afternoon.
According to Jon Karl, the head of the White House press association, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said she was unaware Hicks was undergoing testing when she held a briefing with reporters late Thursday morning.
On Capitol Hill, Department of Health and Human Services head Alex Azar was testifying at a House committee. Azar spoke while wearing a mask, a departure from most witnesses from the administration in recent weeks.
McConnell told a conservative radio host there's no plan at this time to postpone confirmation hearings scheduled for Oct. 12 for Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett.
White House spokesperson Judd Deere said Barrett had tested negative for the virus. Judiciary committee member Sen. Mike Lee of Utah — who met with the nominee earlier this week — confirmed his own positive result.
Lee expressed confidence he'd be back in time for the confirmation hearings.
Trump rally scrapped
Trump had been scheduled to attend a fundraiser at his Washington, D.C., hotel and hold a political rally in Sanford, Fla., on Friday evening.
Hicks, one of the president's most trusted and longest-serving confidants, began feeling mild symptoms during the plane ride home from a rally in Minnesota on Wednesday, according to an administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity to disclose private information. She was isolated from other passengers aboard the plane, and her diagnosis was confirmed Thursday, the person said.
Hicks had also accompanied Trump aboard Air Force One to Tuesday's presidential debate in Cleveland.
Melania Trump said in a series of tweets she is experiencing mild symptoms and has postponed all upcoming engagements. Barron, her son with the president, has tested negative for the virus
Trump had consistently played down concerns about being personally vulnerable to contracting COVID-19, even after White House staff and allies were exposed and sickened.
He encouraged governors to reopen their states and tried to focus the country's attention on efforts to revive the economy as he seeks another four-year term, and touted a series of remedies that ranged from one not proven in double-blind clinical trials to one the medical community characterized as dangerous and alarming.
Family members not masked at debate
The White House has access to near-unlimited resources, including a constant supply of quick-result tests.
In mid-March, the White House began taking the temperature of everyone entering the complex after at least three people who later tested positive came in close proximity to the president at his private Florida club.
Senior staff have been tested for COVID-19 daily since two people who work at the White House complex tested positive in early May, prompting the White House to step up precautions. Everyone who comes into contact with the president also receives a quick-result test.
Melania Trump is seen wearing a mask at Tuesday's debate in Cleveland. From top to bottom, Trump children Eric, Ivanka, Tiffany and Donald Jr. are shown without masks. (Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images)
In May and June, positive tests were registered for one of the president's personal valets, Pence's press secretary Katie Miller, national security adviser Robert O'Brien and Kimberly Guilfoyle, who works for Trump's campaign and is dating his eldest son.
On Tuesday night at the debate in Cleveland, several Trump family members were seen not wearing masks despite the indoor setting.
With files from CBC News
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro seen during a demonstration in favour of his government amidst the coronavirus pandemic in front of Planalto Palace on May 24, 2020 in Brasilia, Brazil.
Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson welcomes U.S. President Donald Trump at the NATO leaders summit in Watford, Britain December 4, 2019.
Prince Albert II of Monaco participates in the 132nd IOC Session prior to the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2018.
Britain’s Prince Charles and Camilla the Duchess of Cornwall, in the background, leave after attending the annual Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey in London, Monday, March 9, 2020.
Erin O’Toole gives the thumbs up to supporters and staff after being announced as the new leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, in Ottawa on Aug. 24, 2020.
U.S. President Donald Trump boards Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House to fly to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, where it was announced he will stay for at least several days after testing positive for the coronavirus disease, October 2, 2020.
This combination of file photos shows from the left at the top, U.S. President Donald Trump, Melania Trump, former White House communications director Hope Hicks, and at the bottom, from the left, Sen. Mike Lee, a Republican from Utah, former White House counsellor Kellyanne Conway and Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel. (AFP via Getty Images)
On Thursday, former White House communications director Hope Hicks confirmed she had tested positive for the coronavirus after feeling unwell following a trip with Trump and his family the day before. (Carlos Barria/Reuters)
In this official photo provided by the White House, U.S. President Donald Trump announces Judge Amy Coney Barrett as his nominee for Associate Justice of the Supreme Court on Sept. 26, in the Rose Garden of the White House. (Amy Rossetti/White House)
Trump's campaign manager Bill Stepien confirmed he also tested positive for COVID-19 and is experiencing mild flu-like symptoms. Stepien has been managing Trump's re-election campaign since July and has been travelling with the president. (Saul Loeb/Getty Images)
Kellyanne Conway, pictured at the Rose Garden event speaking with U.S. Attorney General William Barr, confirmed late Friday that she had tested positive. (Alex Brandon/The Associated Press)
Utah Sen. Mike Lee said he will be working from home for the next few days after testing positive for the novel coronavirus on Friday. (Win McNamee//Getty Images)
Barr, right, greets guests at the Sept. 26 White House event without wearing a mask. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis, who did wear a mask during the public portion of the Supreme Court nomination event, said he had 'mild symptoms.' (Chuck Burton/The Associated Press)
Sen. Ron Johnson announced he tested positive for COVID-19 on Saturday, but said he was asymptomatic. (Toni Sandys/Getty Images)
Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel has been self-isolating at her home since Saturday. She tested positive for the coronavirus and announced her diagnosis on Friday. (Getty Images)
Trump speaks with his personal assistant Nicholas Luna at the White House during a roundtable discussion with governors on June 18. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)