President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump have tested positive for COVID-19, the president tweeted early Friday morning. It was an earth-shattering announcement mere weeks from Election Day.
The confirmation came after Hope Hicks, one of Trump’s closest aides, tested positive for the virus overnight. Hicks traveled with Trump on Tuesday for his debate with Democratic challenger Joe Biden in Cleveland aboard Air Force One and was pictured without a mask, and traveled with the president during his rally in Minnesota on Wednesday. Prior to confirming his positive test, Trump had said he would go into quarantine.
The president’s physician, Sean P. Conley, wrote later that Trump and his wife “are both well at this time, and they plan to remain at home within the White House during their convalescence.”
The US has confirmed 7.2m cases and more than 200,000 deaths since the start of the pandemic, according to data from Johns Hopkins University, more than any other country.
