President Trump and First Lady Melania confirm their positive tests for COVID-19

Diagnosis comes soon after Communications Director Hope Hicks tests positive the same day; Trump’s family was seen maskless at the first presidential debate

Photo Courtesy of Gage Skidmore

“President of the United States Donald Trump speaking at the 2018 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland.”

Minnoli Nori, News Editor
October 2, 2020

At 9:45 p.m. PST on Oct. 1, President Donald Trump tweeted out that he and the First Lady Melania Trump had both contracted COVID-19.

“Tonight, @FLOTUS and I tested positive for COVID-19. We will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately. We will get through this TOGETHER!” Trump wrote in the tweet.

This statement was released after Trump’s close confidant and former White House Communications Director Hope Hicks tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday. As a precautionary measure, the President and First Lady both got tested. They were diagnosed with the virus the same day. Hicks also traveled with Trump aboard the Air Force One to and from his debate with Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden on Sept. 29 and was in contact with senior adviser to the President, Stephen Miller, and political adviser Jason Miller.

Trump’s diagnosis amounts to one of the most serious health threats to a sitting American president; at 74 and 50 years old, respectively, Donald Trump and Melania Trump fall into a high risk category for complications while contracting the virus, which has killed over 200,000 Americans and a little over one million people worldwide.

Trump was last seen in public on Thursday afternoon returning to Washington, DC after attending a fundraising event at his golf club in New Jersey. Although he did not exhibit signs of illness at that time, he did not speak to reporters while entering the White House, and members at the White House attested that Trump’s voice seemed somewhat raspy upon returning from the fundraising event.

“He’s hard at work despite the mild symptoms” – White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany gives update on President Trump’s condition and says she “did not know” Hope Hicks had Covid-19 before her previous briefing https://t.co/y3zD9xdd5T pic.twitter.com/4Q6ipIWtiL

— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) October 2, 2020

Around 1 a.m. EST, incumbent physician to the President, Dr. Sean Conley issued a memo to reporters, confirming the President’s and First Lady’s positive tests on Thursday evening.

“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,” Conley wrote in the memo. “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.”

Even if Trump remains asymptomatic, he and his wife will self-quarantine and resume campaigning from the White House itself; it is unlikely that the President will be able to physically show up to the next debate with Joe Biden, although no insight has been offered on that matter yet.

According to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, COVID-19 symptoms can take up to 14 days to become visible, meaning that there is no clear answer to how long the President, the First Lady and Hicks have been asymptomatic.

son Donald Trump Jr., Trump’s daughter Ivanka, son-in-law Jared Kushner, son Eric Trump, daughter-in-law Lara Trump, teenage son Barron, Vice President Mike Pence and second lady Karen Pence, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi,Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have all tested negative. Former counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway and Trump’s campaign manager Bill Stepien tested positive. The results for daughter Tiffany Trump are currently unknown.