President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump announced late Thursday that they’ve both tested positive for COVID-19, hours after White House aide Hope Hicks tested positive after reporting feeling ill.
With just four weeks before the election, Trump’s coronavirus diagnosis threatens to upend the contentious 2020 election.
Tonight, @FLOTUS and I tested positive for COVID-19. We will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately. We will get through this TOGETHER!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 2, 2020
Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the two most powerful men in the White House besides Trump, have both tested positive.
Notably, just days before his diagnosis, Trump debated Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden in person.
Biden has undergone emergency testing, but hasn’t released the results as of the time of publishing.
However, he did take to social media and release a statement of support for the president and his wife early Friday —
Jill and I send our thoughts to President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump for a swift recovery. We will continue to pray for the health and safety of the president and his family.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) October 2, 2020
The president’s doctor, Sean Conley, released the following statement on the Trumps:
I release the following information with the permission of President Donald J. Trump and First Lady Melania Trump.
This evening I received confirmation that both President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump have tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
The President and First Lady are both well at this time, and they plan to remain at home within the White House during their convalescence.
The White House medical team and I will maintain a vigilant watch, and I appreciate the support provided by some of our our country’s greatest medical professionals and institutions. Rest assured I expect the President to continue carrying out his duties without disruption while recovering, and I will keep you updated on any future developments.
Many White House and senior administration officials were undergoing tests Friday, but the full scale of the outbreak around the president may not be known for some time as it can take days for an infection to be detectable by a test. Officials with the White House Medical Unit were still in the process of tracing the president’s contacts, the official said.
Trump was last seen by reporters returning to the White House on Thursday evening and did not appear visibly ill. Trump is 74 years old, putting him at higher risk of serious complications from a virus that has infected more than 7 million people nationwide.
Trump is far from the first world leader to test positive for the virus, which previously infected Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who spent a week in the hospital, including three nights in intensive care. Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was hospitalized last month while fighting what he called a “hellish” case of COVID-19.
The Associated Press contributed to this article