US President Donald Trump on Friday announced via Twitter that he along with the First Lady Melania Trump had tested positive for COVID-19.
The President has since then been admitted to the Walter Reed National Military Medical Centre and is “doing very well”, as per his doctors.
While it is not clear, as to when or from whom the President of the United States contracted the disease, a possible point of contact might have been Hope Hicks, the President’s trusted aide and senior advisor, who holds a key position in the White House.
Hicks tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday and was one of the first White House officials to test positive for the disease in the week.
Hicks had shown signs of coronavirus when she accompanied the US President Donald Trump to Minnesota for a campaign speech on Wednesday and tested positive for the disease, on Thursday, as per AFP report.
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Hicks felt unwell after the campaign event in Minnesota on Wednesday night, she attempted to isolate on the Air Force One, stated a National Public Radio report. Hope’s diagnosis forced the President to get tested for COVID-19, reported US media houses.
Critics of the administration have pegged the Amy Coney Barrett nomination, on September 26, as the possible petri dish for the spread of the virus.
BBC and other US media reports have already revealed that the event, which was conducted at the Rose Garden on September 26, flouted all norms and protocols that are mandatory during the pandemic. The seating arrangement wasn’t set six feet apart and Senators, White House officials, journalists from across the length and breadth of the country gathered at the Rose Garden to commemorate the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett.
Those among President Donald Trump’s inner circle who tested positive for COVID-19 are Hope Hicks, Kelleyanne Conway, Ronna Mc Daniel, Chris Christie and Bill Stepien.
Conway announced on Twitter that she tested positive for COVID-19 on October 3. Likewise, Christie and Bill Stepien also tested positive for COVID-19 after the President announced his positive result. Christie, who had helped Trump with the preparation for the First Presidential Debate on September 30, announced via Twitter on Saturday that he tested positive for COVID-19.
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Republican Senators Mike Lee and Senator Tom Tillis also announced the news of their positive COVID-19 test on Saturday.
Notre Dame President Reverend John Jenkins, who had attended the Rose Garden event on September 26, has also tested positive for COVID-19, taking the list of those infected of COVID-19 to eight.