President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump have both tested positive for the Chinese coronavirus. The discovery was made public in real-time late Thursday night – October 1st, 2020. This does not mark the first time a public official has tested positive, but it is obviously the positive test with the most real-world implications and consequences.
White House Senior Advisor Hope Hicks has been identified as the possible “patient zero”. She traveled with the President on at least two recent trips, one to the debate on Tuesday then to the rally in Duluth, Minnesota on Wednesday. At some time on Thursday, Hicks experienced symptoms of the virus. She was subsequently tested and the results came back positive.
Donald Trump and Melania Trump were immediately sent into quarantine after Hope Hicks’ positive test due to their recent direct proximity to her. Their tests came back positive soon after quarantine. Donald Trump tweeted that Melania and himself tested positive for the virus and that they will get through this together.
Its not quite clear how Hope Hicks, or anyone else for that matter, was able to catch the virus and transmit it to the President and First Lady. Everyone in the White House is tested everyday, including Hope Hicks, the President, and the First Lady. Rapid tests that are most likely used in the White House are possibly faulty with a relatively high chance of false positive or false negative results. Trump is not a fan of wearing masks but Hope Hicks constantly wears masks. So if the mask prevents the virus from spreading, and Hicks spread it, then obviously the mask did not work very well.
Vice President Mike Pence and the Second Lady, Karen Pence, both tested negative for the virus. Donald Trump’s positive test result will probably not affect Mike Pence’s upcoming debate against Kamala Harris. And the President will most likely be out of quarantine by the time his next debate against Joe Biden rolls around in mid-October.
Reaction from mainstream media and standard far-leftists was par for the course. Not much positivity at all. There was more finger-pointing at Trump for “downplaying the virus” and also for a general lack of mask wearing. Blue-check mafia Twitter-ers took things a step further than simply criticizing the President’s policies. They gleefully Tweeted about Trump not actually surviving his diagnosis. The Washington Post even got in on low-brow Twitter with a post that fantasized about Donald Trump not being around anymore.
The President has already taken hydroxychloroquine in the past with no negative side effects as a prophylaxis to prevent the virus. He will probably take it again as other elected officials on both sides of the aisle have. And since Melania is obviously married to the President, she probably followed suit back when he first took HCQ and will do the same now. The million dollar question here is this… what will the media do when Trump beats the virus and stands before the whole world to say he took HCQ and it saved him? That’s another story for another day.
SOURCES:
President Donald Trump, First Lady Melania Trump Test Positive for Coronavirus
Trump’s Symptoms Mild After Positive Coronavirus Test: Live Updates – The New York Times
Trump downplayed Hope Hicks’ Covid diagnosis on Fox hours before announcing he also tested positive – CNN
Trump experiencing mild symptoms after testing positive for virus | TheHill
