President Donald Trump announced in a tweet that both he and the first lady have tested positive for COVID-129, after being tested after it was discovered that his adviser Hope Hicks also tested positive.
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In the tweet Trump says that they will remain in quarantine and that they have been put into “recovery process immediately.”
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Tonight, @FLOTUS and I tested positive for COVID-19. We will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately. We will get through this TOGETHER!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 2, 2020
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Both President Trump and First Lady Melania are “fine,” said the president’s doctor, Sean Conley, in a statement released early Friday.
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“They are doing well at the moment and plan to stay at home, in the White House, during their convalescence,” the doctor added.
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“I look forward to the president continuing to serve without interruption while he recovers,” added Conley.
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Trump received the test result after one of his closest advisers, Hope Hicks, became infected, bringing the virus to the inner circle of the presidency.
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Hicks flew with Trump on Tuesday on the Air Force One presidential plane to and from the presidential debate. He also did so on Saturday when he accompanied the president to Pennsylvania, and to Minnesota on Wednesday for an election rally.
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“The President takes the health and safety of himself and others who work to support him and the American people very seriously,” White House spokesman Judd Deere said in a statement following news of the Hicks contagion.
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But Trump and his team flew to New Jersey anyway, to attend a fundraising event. There the president was in close contact with dozens of people, including supporters of the campaign at a round table and delivered a speech in which he asserted that “the end of the pandemic is in sight.”
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For months, Trump has downplayed the severity of the coronavirus. He has campaigned with hundreds of followers ignoring the recommendations of social distancing.
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The president has refused to wear a mask in public except on a few occasions, and has even repeatedly questioned its effectiveness and mocked his adversary, Democratic candidate Joe Biden, for wearing them frequently.
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With just 33 days left before the November 3 election, the positive COVID-19 test result raises many questions and difficulties for the Trump campaign. Even if he remains asymptomatic, he will have to remain isolated in the White House for an unknown period of time.
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