United States president Donald Trump and his wife Melania Trump have tested positive for the deadly Coronavirus. Mr Trump shared his test to the world through a Twitter which was quickly picked up by mainstream media including Fox News and CNN.
This is the first president to contract a deadly disease while occupying the White House for at least 40 years. Since the first case of the disease was reported in the United States, president Trump has downplayed the dangers of the disease for many months even to an extent of encouraging people to drink detergents in order to kill the virus within the body.
Also, president Donald Trump refused to wear a mask for more than 7 months, as he only started wearing one in July. On July 4th, 2020, Donald Trump said that nearly 99.99% of Covid-19 cases were totally harmless. But this has been proven to be false as the deadly virus can cause significant bodily harm to an individual even if they survive. Harmful effects includes a collapsed lung, limp amputations as well as intra-cranial hemorrhage.
With his advanced age of 74 years old and morbid, Donald Trump falls in the high risk category who are at risk of dying from the deadly virus. This follows the death of the former presidential candidate Herman Cain who died of Covid-19 last month. Herman Cain was also 74 years old and did run for president in 2012 under the Republican Party ticket.
Confirming the positive test results, Navy Commander Sean Conley said, “The President and First Lady are both well at this time, and they plan to remain at home within the White House during their convalescence”.
“The White House medical team and I will maintain a vigilant watch, and I appreciate the support provided by some of our country’s greatest medical professionals and institutions,” Conley wrote, without elaborating what assistance was being provided to the White House.
“Rest assured I expect the President to continue carrying out his duties without disruption while recovering, and I will keep you updated on any further developments,” Sean Conley added.
President Trump was expecting to test positive for the deadly Coronavirus. On Thursday October 1st, President Trump said he was going into a mandatory quarantine after his close aide had tested positive for the disease a day early.
“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!” Trump tweeted Thursday night.
Hope Hicks travelled with Donald Trump on Airforce One on Tuesday, to and from the debate. Other people who travelled with her included Jared Kushner, Dan Scavino and Nicholas Luna. None of these people including Donald Trump and his wife wore a mask during the journey back to the White House.
“She did test positive, I just heard about this. She tested positive. She’s a hard worker. Lot of masks, she wears masks a lot but she tested positive. Then I just went out with a test. I’ll see — you know, because we spent a lot of time — and the first lady just went out with a test also. So whether we quarantine or whether we have it, I don’t know,” Trump said during a call-in appearance on Fox News’ “Hannity.”
On Thursday, president Trump twitted, “I just went for a test and we’ll see what happens, I mean, who knows. … I spent a lot of time with Hope Hicks and so does the first lady, and she’s tremendous.”
It is widely believed that President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump contracted the deadly virus when they interacted onboard Airforce One on Tuesday night. Donald Trump hinted that Hope Hicks might have contracted the disease by interacting with a Trump supporter during a Minnesota campaign.
“She’s [Hope Hicks] a very warm person. She has a hard time, when soldiers and law enforcement comes up to her, you know, she wants to treat them great, not say, ‘Stay away, I can’t get near you.’ It’s a very, very tough disease,” Said Donald Trump.
Previously, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany had described Donald Trump as the most Covid-19 tested person in America. But the president contradicted this a day later by saying that he is not aware of a day he has ever underwent Coronavirus tests more than once per day.
“I don’t know about more than one,” Trump responded to a reporter who asked why he was tested more than once a day. “I do probably on average a test every two days, three days, and I don’t know of any time I’ve taken two in one day, but I could see that happening”, Trump said.
It is worth to note that President Donald Trump is not the only sitting head of state to contract the deadly coronavirus. The current United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson did contract the disease in May 2020. The 55 years old British Prime Minister was hospitalized at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) for more than four weeks and made a full recovery.
Burindi President Pierre Nkurunziza and his wife both contracted the disease in July. The wife made a full recovery after being admitted at a Nairobi, Kenya hospital but unfortunately her 55 year old husband succumbed to the disease after getting a heart attack.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsanaro contracted coronavirus thrice but made a full recovery a month later. Like Donald Trump, Jair Bolsanaro has also downplayed the danger of the deadly virus by refusing to lockdown his country for fear of sending it into an economic recession.
Within the last 24 hours, Argentina has reported more than 3,352 coronavirus deaths in their country. This is a world record as the number is more than twice the highest death ever reported within a span of one day in a single country worldwide since the pandemic started.
Currently, coronavirus has killed more than 1 million people worldwide, with at least 200,000 of the deaths occurring in the United States. At least 25 million of the coronavirus patients have made a full recovery worldwide.
