White House doctor says the president will continue to perform his duties ‘without disruption’ while quarantining along with the first lady

Hicks, who had tested positive for Covid-19, travelled with Trump aboard Air Force One to and from the presidential debate on Tuesday

President Donald Trump announced early Friday that he and first lady Melania Trump had tested positive for Covid-19, soon after one of his closest aides, Hope Hicks, had fallen ill with the coronavirus.

“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 said on Twitter.

In a memo released early Friday morning, Trump’s doctor said that the president and first lady plan to remain at the White House “during their convalescence” and that the medical unit would “maintain a vigilant watch.”

“Rest assured I expect the president to continue carrying out his duties without disruption while recovering, and I will keep you updated on any future developments,” White House doctor Sean Conley said.

US and European equity futures fell while Asian stocks and the dollar climbed after Trump said he tested positive. The yen and Treasuries, often seen as havens in times of market stress, rose. Nasdaq futures were 2 per cent lower and crude oil extended losses.

Judd Deere, a White House spokesman, said contact tracing for Trump and Melania Trump was being carried out and “the appropriate notifications and recommendations will be made.” Contact tracing for Hicks, he added, was already complete.

The White House issued a new schedule for Trump’s activities on Friday that did not include his planned trip to Florida.

The 74-year-old president’s positive result is likely to sharpen already intense public attention on his ineffectual handling of the pandemic as he campaigns for re-election against Democrat Joe Biden, who leads in national polls.

Axi analyst Stephen Innes said the announcement would likely increase Biden’s already good chances of winning.

“The risk-off reaction to Trump’s positive Covid-19 test feels like the last of the Biden pricing is getting done,” he said in a note. “The quarantine will mean he misses three swing state rallies – with critical Florida among them.”It wasn’t immediately clear how Trump contracted the virus, which has killed more than 200,000 Americans. But Hicks tested positive after flying with Trump aboard Air Force One to the presidential debate in Cleveland on Tuesday and to a campaign rally in Minnesota on Wednesday.

“We spent a lot of time with Hope and others. So we’ll see what happens,” Trump said during the Fox interview with Sean Hannity.

Several other members of Trump’s circle tested positive for the virus earlier this year – including National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien.

His aides have worried that Trump’s lack of sleep during the final stretch of the presidential campaign could leave him especially vulnerable to infection. The president did not return to the White House until after midnight following his Tuesday and Wednesday trips. His age also puts him at greater risk for serious illness from the virus.

Carl Bergstrom, a biology professor at the University of Washington in Seattle, said that although it is too early to tell, he thought the risk of infection to Biden was low given the available information.

He said that assuming Trump was tested for Covid-19 daily and has tested negative until Thursday when he received the positive result, it was not likely that the president was infectious when he was on stage during the debate with Biden on Tuesday.

“If Trump has been tested daily and has tested negative until today, he may have been infected before Tuesday’s debate but it is unlikely he would have been infectious while on stage with Biden,” Bergstrom told the Post.

The development, while a source of concern for Americans, will make it harder for the president to continue trying to shift attention away from the virus and focus on his prized campaign issues, like accusing Democrats of promoting a ruinous socialist agenda and allowing US cities to be overrun by violent protesters.

Trump has sought to diminish the significance of the virus amid surveys showing a majority of Americans disapprove of his handling of the pandemic, which he has said would simply “disappear.” Trump has pushed for states to reopen their economies even as caseloads have surged.

The president, who initially downplayed the importance of wearing masks and later endorsed their use, has seldom worn a face covering in public and also has not followed recommendations about staying six feet away from others. The White House has said those precautions aren’t needed for Trump because people allowed in proximity are tested for the virus.Trump has said he had no regrets about his response to the pandemic, and argued that he “up-played it in terms of action” even though he told journalist Bob Woodward in a taped conversation that he downplayed the threat it posed to avoid scaring Americans. He again cast doubt on whether masks effectively prevent transmission of the virus.

“A lot of people don’t want to wear masks. There are a lot of people think that masks are not good,” Trump said in a September 15 town hall event with ABC News.

The president also has repeatedly hosted events where audience members didn’t wear masks or maintain distance from one another.

He held his first indoor campaign rally in months on September 13 at a manufacturing plant in Las Vegas, flouting a Nevada order banning indoor gatherings of 50 or more people or more.

“I’m on stage, and it’s very far away,” Trump said in an interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal, defending his decision to speak to thousands of supporters, few of whom wore masks or practised social distancing. He spoke at a similar indoor gathering in Arizona the next day.

Days later, Trump spoke in front of hundreds of people on the South Lawn of the White House at a signing ceremony for diplomatic accords between the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Israel. Few of the attendees were tested for Covid-19.

Trump on August 27 appeared before a crowd of roughly 1,500 people on the South Lawn to accept the Republican Party’s presidential nomination. Though the Trump campaign said it followed “strict” safety protocols, the District of Columbia bans gatherings larger than 50 people. Few people in the crowd wore masks and White House officials said some, but not all, attendees were tested for Covid-19.

The president in late July began to publicly encourage Americans to wear masks if they cannot maintain social distance and avoid risky behaviour, after months of casting doubt on public health recommendations and promoting unproven treatments.In May, for instance, he said he took the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine as a preventive measure, days after vice-president Mike Pence’s press secretary tested positive for the virus. The Food and Drug Administration revoked emergency approval for the drug as a Covid-19 treatment a month later, citing a lack of effectiveness and harmful potential side effects.

The British government wishes Trump a speedy recovery but the US has a clear succession protocol should it be needed, a minister said on Friday.

“All of us want to send our best wishes to President Trump, the first lady and the Trump family and wish them a speedy recovery,” Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick told Sky.

“In the US they’ve got a very clear protocol haven’t they, with the vice-president, should that be necessary,” Jenrick said.Trump also joins other world leaders who tested positive for the virus, including Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez. All of them survived, though Johnson became seriously ill.

Source – south china morning post