Hours after senior White HouseHope Hicks confirmed she had tested positive for the coronavirus, President Trump confirmed on Twitter that he and his wife Melania Trump are among the 7.31 million Americans with COVID-19.
Hicks traveled on Air Force One with the president and other senior staff on Wednesday. After news of the positive test, Trump claimed, without providing evidence, that the virus had been transmitted to his adviser during hugs with law enforcement or military personnel.
Trump is not the first world leader to test positive for the virus. His counterpart, Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Prince Alfred II of Monaco have all been confirmed to have contracted the deadly disease. Johnson spent time in intensive care and his team prepared contingency plans in case the prime minister did not survive.
But, along with Bolsonaro, the US is one of the leaders who has publicly expressed doubt about the seriousness of the virus. He has also repeatedly opposed taking precautions, such as wearing face masks, and just this week he sharply mocked his Democratic presidential rival, Joe Biden, for the way he wore a mask.
In March, leaked interviews with renowned journalist Bob Woodwardrevealed that Trump knew COVID-19 was more serious than he was making out in his public statements, and that he was, by his own admission, “playing it up” to avoid “panic.” In late September, he told a packed campaign rally that the virus “almost doesn’t affect anyone.”
Trump says he and the First Lady are in quarantine, starting "immediately," but so far they appear to have shown no symptoms.
