The FINANCIAL – Just a month before the presidential election US President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump have tested positive for COVID-19. The news came just hours after Trump confirmed that his aide Hope Hicks also tested positive for coronavirus. Donald Trump has tested positive for coronavirus despite being at the center of one of the most secure testing environments in the world – and questions are now being asked about why it took so long to diagnose him hours after aide Hope Hicks was confirmed to have coronavirus. Thursday afternoon, when Trump was last seen in public, did not appear ill. After announcing the President’s diagnosis, the White House issued a new schedule to reflect several canceled events on Friday.
US President Donald Trump and first lady, Melania Trump, are in self-isolation after testing positive for coronavirus. Trump, 74, confirmed in a post on Twitter on Friday morning that he and his wife, 50, were now in quarantine for two weeks after one of his aides tested positive for the virus. According to the tweet, Trump and his wife have both also tested positive in their first test for the disease, Euronews reported.
“As too many Americans have done this year, @potus & I are quarantining at home after testing positive for COVID-19. We are feeling good & I have postponed all upcoming engagements. Please be sure you are staying safe & we will all get through this together,” wrote on Twitter Melania Trump.
Donald Trump was last seen in public on Thursday afternoon, returning to the White House after a fundraising trip to New Jersey. He did not appear ill, though he did not speak to reporters as he walked into his residence. His infection with the disease could prove destabilizing in an already fraught political climate, and stock market futures tumbled on news of Trump’s infection. After announcing the President’s diagnosis, the White House issued a new schedule to reflect several canceled events on Friday, including a fundraiser in Washington and a campaign rally in Florida. The scrubbed plans were the most immediate effects of the President’s diagnosis on the presidential campaign, which has centered largely on the pandemic and the President’s response to it. Trump has frequently sought to paint a rosy picture of the current situation, including just hours before he announced his diagnosis, CNN wrote.
Donald Trump has tested positive for coronavirus despite being at the center of one of the most secure testing environments in the world – and questions are now being asked about why it took so long to diagnose him hours after aide Hope Hicks was confirmed to have coronavirus. The White House boasts one of the most advanced testing programmes in the world, with White House staff randomly tested for Covid-19 using a system that takes just five minutes to show a positive result and 13 minutes for a negative one. Officials said in August that random tests for staff in the Executive Office of the President would become mandatory, using the Abbott Laboratories ID NOW test, which data analysis has shown is highly accurate when compared with industry-standard alternatives. However, concerns have previously been raised about the fact that the ID NOW rapid test found positive cases of Covid-19 just 95 per cent of the time. There is also confusion as to why Trump and First Lady Melania’s diagnoses were only recorded today when senior aide Hope Hicks, who also came down with the virus after travelling with the president several times this week, self isolated on Wednesday, having first felt poorly that evening, according to Daily Mail.
Stock market futures showed that all three of America’s main indexes – the Dow Jones, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq – are set to drop by between 1.2 and 1.5% each when trading begins on Friday. “This election already had a cloud of uncertainty hanging over it as Trump has refused to say whether he will accept the final vote and has also said that the final result may not be known for months,” said Fiona Cincotta, market analyst at City Index UK. “The markets are already fretting about an uncertain election and this just adds another layer of uncertainty, favouring the risk off trade.” Futures trading indicates that the Dow Jones could drop by nearly 500 points when it opens later. The technology-heavy Nasdaq is set to tumble by 2% while the S&P 500 is on course to fall 1.7%, as reported by BBC.
It is interesting to note that, President Donald Trump, under fire over his handling of the coronavirus epidemic, announced on Monday the federal government would ship 150 million rapid tests to U.S. states and warned an increase in positive cases is likely in the days ahead. Trump, at a Rose Garden event, said the tests would largely be used for opening schools and ensuring safety at centers for senior citizens. He has been pressuring state governors to do more to open schools for in-person learning. Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and virus adviser Scott Atlas warned more positive cases may result from stepped up testing. The president has repeatedly suggested that more testing leads to more cases, when in fact testing uncovers cases that already exist. Other metrics like increased hospitalizations and deaths have no link to more testing, Reuters wrote.
Talking about the coronavirus it should be noted that a new preliminary study by South Korea shows that 90% of COVID-19 recovered patients reported side-effects. There are 5,762 recovered patients in South Korea and 16.7% of them participated in the survey. 879 people said that they were suffering at least one side-effect from coronavirus disease. The study comes as health officials are raising concerns about the long-term side effects of the virus as there are almost 34 000 000 coronavirus cases in the world and more than 25 000 000 recovered patients. Read more.
Public health experts have emphasized that during the COVID pandemic, it is important for people of all ages to get seasonal flu vaccine this year. In August 2020, the C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health asked a national sample of parents about getting flu vaccine for their children age 2-18 years. 32% of parents say their child is unlikely to get flu vaccine this year. Among parents who will not seek flu vaccine for their child this year, 1 in 7 say they are keeping their child away from health care sites due to concerns about COVID.
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