Trump, Melania test positive for COVID-19

US President Donald Trump announced on Friday that he and his wife Melania Trump have tested postive for COVID-19.

“Tonight, @FLOTUS and I tested positive for COVID-19. We will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately,” he tweeted.

Hope Hicks, a close aide of Trump, tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday.

Trump had confirmed in an interview on Thursday that he had been informed Hicks had tested positive. “Hicks is one of the president’s most trusted and longest-serving aides, having worked as spokesperson for his 2016 campaign. She originally served as White House communications director, and re-joined the administration this year as an advisor ahead of the election,” sources reported.

Hicks had travelled with Trump on Air Force One to the first presidential debate with Joe Biden on Tuesday and also to a rally in Minnesota the following day. “She felt poorly in Minnesota and quarantined aboard the presidential plane on the way home,” Bloomberg reported.

Bloomberg reported there are worries of Trump’s potential vulnerability to COVID-19. “his aides worry that Trump’s lack of sleep during the final stretch of the presidential campaign could leave him especially vulnerable to infection.”

Adding the sources said “The president did not return to the White House until after midnight following his Tuesday and Wednesday trips. The president’s age, 74, also puts him at greater risk for serious illness from the virus.”

Trump is tested regularly for COVID-19 and people working in the White House, including members of the press, are tested daily.

Before Trump’s tweet on the quarantine process, the White House had released a schedule for his election plans for Friday, which includes meeting supporters in Washington and flying to attend a rally in Orlando, Florida.