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Trump tests positive for COVID-19, quarantines

Trump tests positive for COVID-19, quarantines

WORLD: President Donald Trump has tested positive for COVID-19, upending the already tense US election, but was described by his doctor today (Oct 2) as feeling “well” and able to perform his duties while quarantining.


Friday 2 October 2020, 02:27PM

US President Donald Trump. Photo: AFP.

US President Donald Trump. Photo: AFP.

Trump, 74, first announced on Twitter that he and First Lady Melania Trump, 50, had tested positive for the virus.

“We will get through this TOGETHER!” he wrote.

The extraordinary setback for Trump had immediate political consequences just 31 days before election day, forcing him to cancel campaign trips and adding new volatility to a contest already steeped in tension.

Trump’s challenger, Democrat Joe Biden, is well ahead in the polls and has made criticism of the Republican’s handling of the coronavirus - and frequent downplaying of the pandemic’s seriousness - a key issue.

Trump, in response, has been betting on an evermore aggressive schedule of campaign rallies around the country. The events, which he says prove his true political strength, bring together thousands of people, often without masks and sometimes in contravention of local rules.

That strategy is now in doubt, with the White House immediately canceling a planned campaign rally in the crucial swing state of Florida later today.

It looked certain that Trump would have to cancel a trip scheduled for this weekend in Wisconsin, another battleground. He had also been expected to travel frequently next week, including longer distances to western states.

A second televised debate with Biden is scheduled for October 15.

Technically obese and in his 70s, Trump is in a higher-risk category for coronavirus patients.

Trump’s official physician, Sean Conley, said in a statement that the president and his wife “are both well at this time.”

“They plan to remain home at the White House during their convalescence,” he said. However, “I expect the president to continue carrying out his duties without disruption while recovering.”

Close aide gets virus

The shock news came right after one of Trump’s closest advisors, Hope Hicks, was reported to have come down with the virus yesterday.

Hicks, 31, traveled with Trump to Cleveland for his first debate with Biden on Tuesday. She was with him again for a campaign rally in Minnesota on Wednesday.

Thanyapura Health 360

With Hicks sharing Trump’s Air Force One plane and the even more cramped confines of the Marine One helicopter, speculation immediately erupted that Trump and possibly many others in his close entourage were exposed.

Despite Hicks’ diagnosis, Trump took another Air Force One trip yesterday to meet with donors in New Jersey.

It was only late yesterday that Trump confirmed media reports about Hicks while giving an interview to Fox News. He announced that he had been tested but did not say whether he had received the results.

“You know I spend a lot of time with Hope, and so does the first lady,” Trump said.

Hicks is the most senior White House aide announced to have contracted COVID-19.

In May, the spokeswoman of Vice President Mike Pence and wife of Trump’s speech writer, Katie Miller, came down with the virus. National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien contracted the virus and went into quarantine in July.

Few wearing masks

Trump says the United States has put behind the worst of the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed more than 200,000 Americans, and he rarely wears a mask, noting that he receives frequent testing.

However, his own health experts have often given less rosy assessments of the state of the pandemic in the world’s richest country.

And Trump has been sharply criticized for the large rallies where few supporters wear masks. He himself has given mixed signals to the public on the need for wearing masks at all.

By contrast, Biden has run a low key campaign with social distancing at most events, no large gatherings, and conspicuous use of his mask wherever he goes.

At their first debate on Tuesday, the candidates were tested and spent the angry, often chaotic 90 minutes standing close to each other. Trump’s family and supporters in the audience did not wear masks.

White House spokesman Judd Deere earlier said “the president takes the health and safety of himself and everyone who works in support of him and the American people very seriously.”

Deere said the White House takes care to follow procedures “for limiting COVID-19 exposure to the greatest extent possible both on complex and when the president is traveling.”

Comment on this story



malczx7r | 14 October 2020 - 17:15:39

Gonna be an intresting day when all the DT haters are crying in their beers when DT wins by a landslide! On a plus note the tears can help fill the reservoirs! haha Got to aggree with the Commment on the wor police removing their troops back home, too bust sticking their noses in other countries, well we all know why to consume all of the oil that the USA wastes so foolishly with their ego cars

Pascale | 14 October 2020 - 16:25:02

@Tbird   FYI , this is the PN forum and not an US -election campaign rally. 

DeKaaskopp | 14 October 2020 - 09:47:43

Sbird, just to clarify it for you. Donald will lose the election and Donald has a screw loose. Get it now ?

Galong | 14 October 2020 - 09:41:39

OMG editor!  Why are you letting Tbird ramble on about his/her moronic conspiracy theories and factless nationalism using extremely poor grammar?  Enough. Tbird is proving that a combination of a foil hat, oxy, and bleach is dangerous.

Jor12 | 14 October 2020 - 08:08:30

Now you are trying to put a spin on the meaning of words to suit your own agenda. So you mean to tell me that if I discriminate against a white man and refuse him service in my shop, it is not apartheid even though a state law (institutionalised racial segregation) says I can do so?  I don't think so. What a horrible law that was. USA should be ashamed. 

Tbird | 13 October 2020 - 19:23:36

D-kap! Thank you for correcting yourself! Yes, Donald Trump will NOT LOOSE come November! Where you are wrong is the Banjo comment.It is PRECISELY because Trump will win that I might have to defend my home from the Leftist hordes as they are the instigators of violence as they like YOU can not win with logic and facts.Jor Apartheid was a NATIONAL policy.JC laws in theUS were STATElaws.U are wrong

Jor12 | 13 October 2020 - 17:19:11

But its great that you see your country in the way that you have, just like Thai's do, or any other citizen who similarly views their country of birth.

Jor12 | 13 October 2020 - 17:18:36

In the 18th century, the Netherlands was the dominant global power but they have simply lost their power. America 
is heading in the same direction geopolitically, militarily, financially, economically, socially, and in health and the environment. What we are seeing is China that has rapidly expanded its influence without firing a shot....

LALALA | 13 October 2020 - 16:13:00

And reg. the Marshall plan, this instrument was only set up to counter soviet influence and get access to the market of Europe, nothing else. If it was for free why you - the U.S. - not withdraw all your troops now from Europe. We don't need the Yanks.

LALALA | 13 October 2020 - 16:06:06

Tbird... how do you know that the Chinese unleashed the Virus the world ? Is this is your nightmares ? Where is your evidence ? The U.S. simply could have produced it in Central Asia and smuggled it to China. They have build many laboratories in this Region under the umbrella of DITRA. These labs are up to BSL-3 standard hence capable of developing such virus. So why the Chinese ? 

DeKaaskopp | 13 October 2020 - 15:38:12

Correction:  lose  not loose !

Jor12 | 13 October 2020 - 15:00:38

Call it what you want, the meaning of apatheid or segregation or whatever law you want,  actually means a system of institutionalised racial segregation. Best consult a dictionary. 

Pascale | 13 October 2020 - 14:39:38

Hahaha  Tbird ,please refrain from posting any further comments. It's so hilarious. I can't stop laughing and it really start to hurt now.

DeKaaskopp | 13 October 2020 - 12:12:44

the election and all those "totalitarian forces" as you describe them will take over. Your nightmare will come true, followed by many more sleepless nights. Lol !!!

DeKaaskopp | 13 October 2020 - 12:06:38

Another even shorter night for Sbird trying to convince everyone that the whole world benefits so greatly from the US and that only Trumpel can guarantee the survival of democracy. What an useless effort ! And it looks like ,comes November,you will have to put your banjo aside and instead you have to grab a weapon to defend democracy, liberty  and freedom in your home country because DT will loose

Tbird | 13 October 2020 - 04:15:15

the causes of Liberty and Freedom worldwide. Human Rights will also be in the toilet. Or do yo all believe in a benevolent China? You know ! The Communist regime that unleashed this pandemic on the world?Jor 12 calling Jim Crow laws Apartheid does not make it so. Pick up a history book before next class.

Tbird | 13 October 2020 - 04:07:33

Pascale,I am not sure why you needed to post a non sequitur... I have not defended the Presidents name-calling.I will defend his POLICIES, and the FACT that he is the only hope the USA has right now against the totalitarian forces( The Radical Left, the Marxist BLM, Antifa, and every other Soros funded "movement").As muchb as you would like to rag on the US, if the US fails - so will the...

Tbird | 13 October 2020 - 04:00:18

fault of taxpaying citizens. See if you can answer 3 questions without resorting to childish deflections: 1.) Have you ever spent time in the USA? 2.) Have you ever read the Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution? 3.) What would present day Europe look like today if the US did not intervene in WW2 ,institute the Marshall Plan , AND provide for the defense of Western Europe for 50 years?

Tbird | 13 October 2020 - 03:48:54

DeKap , another D+ for your effort.Once more:personal attacks and name-calling are not acceptable (nor effective) methods for debate for adults (giving you the benefit of the doubt).Now, vis-a-vis the "plight" of Native Americans: Most states grant casino licenses ONLY for tribal lands giving Native Americans an enormous revenue flow..that so many piss the $ away on alcohol is not the fa...

Tbird | 13 October 2020 - 03:39:31

The Mountain of Ignorance is much taller than it looked ! Ok. Try to pay attention, Class! LaLa: Correct- in that nobody asked for protection. Germany and Italy asked for an A**-kicking.After that, the USA instituted the Marshall Plan which was instrumental for the resurrection of the wasteland called Europe. Y'all are welcome! 

Jor12 | 12 October 2020 - 15:20:01

Apatheid ("segregation" in USA) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation, enshrined in law in both in South Africa and USA. No-one forfeits their own right to life only Zealots do. 

Pascale | 12 October 2020 - 15:16:33

'..you will not win debates with ad hominin attacks'   Tbird , I see your President is using his social media accounts to insult/name calling all kinds of people. Maybe you should advice him ! 

DeKaaskopp | 12 October 2020 - 11:52:13

...properly function without the USA. And use some of that money to compensate the Indians,as contrary to your statement, they are still not treated quite well.But who knows what your understanding of "quite well" is. Have a nice day and keep on waving the US flag and singing the star spangled banner.

DeKaaskopp | 12 October 2020 - 11:38:47

Seems like Sbird had a sleepless night given the time of his comments. Lucky for the rest of us that only 6 comments are allowed per day.Who knows how much more of that devoted patriotic ranting we had to go through if there wouldn't be a limit of comments. But I have to agree on one point. Keep your foreign aid and use it to educate those group of rednecks who think that the world could not ....

LALALA | 12 October 2020 - 09:59:24

Tbird...believe me, me and many others would be very happy if the U.S. would concentrate on their own affairs..please start with withdrawing troups from Europe and elsewhere in the world. Nobody asking for your protection.


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