Ebun Olowu
President Donald Trump announced this morning, Friday, October 2, 2020, that he and his wife, Melania Trump, have both tested positive for the coronavirus.
He confirmed this on Twitter saying, “Tonight, @FLOTUS and I tested positive for COVID-19. We will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately. We will get through this TOGETHER!”
The 74 year President falls into the highest risk category for serious complications from the disease, which has killed more than 200,000 Americans and more than 1 million people worldwide.
This is an extraordinary development and amounts to the most serious known health threat to a sitting American president in decades. It is coming months into a global pandemic and in the final stretch of Trump’s reelection campaign in which he has flouted experts’ guidance on preventing the disease’s spread.
Earlier, Trump had tweeted about Hope Hicks, one of his closest advisers, testing positive for the disease, “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!”
Hicks travels regularly with the president on Air Force One and, along with other senior aides, accompanied him to Cleveland for the first presidential debate with Democrat Joe Biden on Tuesday.
She was also with Trump at a campaign event in Minnesota on Wednesday and flew back to the White House with him on the Marine One helicopter after the rally.
Trump was last seen in public on Thursday afternoon, returning to the White House after a fundraising trip to New Jersey. He did not appear ill, though he did not speak to reporters as he walked into his residence.
