President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump have tested positive for the coronavirus, the White House announced early Friday morning.
“Tonight @FLOTUS and I tested positive for COVID-19. We will immediately begin our quarantine and recovery process. We're going to get through this TOGETHER! The president tweeted on Friday morning. (For the record, the president and the first lady “self-isolate” since they've already been diagnosed; quarantine is when a person doesn't know if they're positive.)
Jennifer Jacobs of Bloomberg News reported Thursday night
that Presidential Counsel Hope Hicks had tested positive and was showing
symptoms. Hicks has traveled with President Trump and other White House staff
in recent days, including to the debate in Cleveland on Tuesday and Minnesota
for a fundraiser and rally on Wednesday.
The White House released a memo early Friday from Sean
Conley, the president's medical doctor, stating that "the president and
the First Lady are doing fine right now, and they plan to stay at home in the
White House while they recover." Conley added: "Please be assured
that I expect the President to continue in office while recovering."
“October Surprise”
The implications for the presidential campaign - and,
really, for the country - are unclear at this point. Observers were expecting
an "October surprise" - an event that would plunge the election into
chaos - and the arrival of Covid-19 in the Oval Office may well be.
What happens in the days and weeks ahead will depend on the
severity of the 74-year-old president's case. Covid-19 is particularly
dangerous for the elderly: a person's risk of hospitalization and death
increases with each passing decade. Neither Trump nor his doctor mentioned if
he was showing symptoms, although Conley said he was "fine".
Rallies are planned for the foreseeable future, and it's
unclear whether the president will at least be able to attend the next debate
on October 15.
If the president's case were to worsen to the point of
becoming incapable, it would be possible for the vice president and a majority
of sitting cabinet secretaries to invoke the 25th Amendment to the Constitution
- making Mike Pence the interim president. But of course, Trump could also have
a mild case and recover long before such a step is needed.
In Tuesday's debate, Trump mocked his opponent Joe Biden for
wearing masks. “I don't wear a mask like him. Every time you see him he has a
mask on,” Trump said. More generally, the president has repeatedly downplayed
the threat of the Covid-19 pandemic, organizing crowded campaign rallies and
saying the country needs to return to normal. The problem, however, was that
the virus never went away - as Trump has now learned firsthand.
To date, 7.3 million Americans have been diagnosed with the
virus and at least 208,000 have died.
There have been multiple cases of coronavirus around Trump
There is no comment yet on Trump's state of the Biden
campaign, nor news that Biden tested positive after contacting the president
for Tuesday's debate.
It is also not yet known whether Trump and his entourage
exposed members of the public to the virus. According to the Washington Post,
“After White House officials learned of Hicks' symptoms, Trump and his
entourage flew to New Jersey, where he attended a fundraiser and gave a speech.
Trump was in close contact with dozens of other people, including campaign
supporters at a roundtable.
While Trump, as well as assistants and reporters in close
contact with him, are regularly tested for the virus, masks are not mandatory
and temperature checks for White House visitors were canceled in July.
Already, there have been several known cases of coronavirus
infection around Trump - most recently at least 11 members of the Secret
Service and his National Security Advisor Robert C. O'Brien, according to the
New York Times.
Trump is also not the first world leader to test positive.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson in Britain and President Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil
both contracted the coronavirus and recovered. Johnson's case was particularly
serious. During his illness, he spent several days in the intensive care unit
and asked medics to prepare to inform the world of his death.
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