Trump, Melania to quarantine after top aide tests positive for Coronavirus

. US President Donald Trump said that he would begin self-quarantine while waiting for coronavirus test results after Hope Hicks, one of his closest aides, tested positive for Covid-19. “She did test positive. I just heard about this," Trump said in an interview Thursday night on Fox News, about two hours after Bloomberg News first reported Hicks’s positive test.

Donald Trump:

Later, in a tweet, the president said that he and First Lady Melania Trump had been tested for the virus and were waiting on the results. “In the meantime, we will begin our quarantine process!"

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1311859538279239686

It was unclear from the president’s tweet whether that meant he planned to halt campaigning for re-election.

Hicks traveled with Trump aboard Air Force One to and from the presidential debate in Cleveland on Tuesday and to a Minnesota rally on Wednesday. She felt poorly in Minnesota and quarantined aboard the presidential plane on the way home, according to people familiar with the matter.

The people asked not to be identified because Hicks’s infection had not been publicly announced until Trump’s interview. Messages left for Hicks were not immediately returned.

“I’ll get my test back either tonight or tomorrow morning," Trump said. He said he “was surprised" about Hicks’s infection, remarking that she often wears a mask. “She is a very warm person," he said.

Hope Hicks:

Hicks is the latest person in Trump’s orbit to contract the virus. Other senior staff have contracted Covid-19 and recovered including National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien. But few spend as much time with the president as Hicks, whose service dates to his 2016 campaign.

Some people close to Hicks were told that she is experiencing symptoms of the disease.

Hicks was seen on Tuesday riding maskless in a staff van with White House senior adviser Stephen Miller, campaign adviser Jason Miller and others.

When they returned to Washington on Tuesday, Stephen Miller and Hicks were seen sharing an umbrella as they exited Air Force One in the rain. Miller’s wife, Katie Miller -- Vice President Mike Pence’s press secretary -- recovered from Covid-19 earlier this year.

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Tested positive:

After feeling ill in Minnesota, Hicks tested positive for the virus on Thursday.

Trump is tested regularly, though it is not clear precisely how often. People who work in the White House are tested daily, including members of the press corps. Also, anyone scheduled to meet with the president is tested beforehand.

Trump’s staff wear masks when traveling with him aboard the presidential helicopter, Marine One, and Hicks observed that protocol this week.

But his aides worry that Trump’s lack of sleep during the final stretch of the presidential campaign could leave him especially vulnerable to infection. 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.

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