White Home rally: Trump to carry first public occasion since Covid prognosis

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The presence of a U.S. Marine outside the west wing suggested Mr Trump was in the Oval Office on Friday

Donald Trump will later host a public event at the White House – his first since contracting coronavirus.

The president, who says he is no longer taking medication for Covid-19, will deliver a speech from the balcony of the White House in front of several hundred supporters who have gathered on the southern lawn.

It’s been a little over a week since Mr Trump announced he had tested positive for coronavirus.

He said on Friday he was waiting for a new test result.

The White House gathering on Saturday is officially more of a presidential rather than a campaign event.

The official schedule reads: “The President speaks out on a peaceful protest for law and order.”

Mr Trump has been criticized for using the White House for political events, such as when he accepted his party’s renomination for President from the South Lawn in August.

The president says he plans to attend a “big rally” in Florida on Monday.

Florida is a battlefield state in next month’s presidential election.

Polls suggest that Democratic candidate Joe Biden has a single-digit lead over Trump, and an ABC News / Ipsos poll found that only 35% of Americans voted for Trump to tackle the coronavirus crisis.

However, in practice, U.S. presidential elections are determined in key states where both candidates have a chance of winning, rather than based on the total number of votes won, as Hillary Clinton discovered at her expense in 2016.

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What’s the latest on the President’s health?

Mr Trump told Fox News that he felt “really, really strong” and stopped taking medication after receiving his “end doses of almost everything”.

On Thursday, the President’s Doctor, Sean Conley, said it would be safe for him to return to public engagements on Saturday [10 October] as this would mark “Day 10” since his diagnosis on Thursday October 1st.

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Mr Trump has not been seen publicly since returning to the White House after receiving hospital treatment on October 5th

After his diagnosis, Mr. Trump spent three nights in the hospital and was treated with the steroid dexamethasone, the antiviral drug remdesivir and a cocktail of antibodies manufactured by the Regeneron company.

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The United States Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommend self-isolation for at least 10 days after the first onset of coronavirus symptoms, although more serious conditions, such as those that require hospital treatment, may take up to 20 days.

What’s going on in the White House?

A little more than three weeks until the November 3rd election, Mr. Trump would like to go on the campaign again.

All attendees at Saturday’s South Lawn event must wear masks, receive temperature checks, and encourage social distancing, the White House said.

“We’re making sure we take precautions to ensure that those present are screened before they come in,” White House communications director Alyssa Farah told CBS News.

“The president is far away, he will be on the balcony and very, very briefly address the supporters there.”

Trump’s Democratic opponent Joe Biden expressed disbelief over the president’s plans to hold rallies and criticized the Trump administration’s negligent attitude towards mask use as ruthless.

Mr Trump has been skeptical of measures like masks and barriers to combat the spread of Covid-19, which killed more than 213,000 people in the United States. He has raised the prospect of a vaccine being available, although researchers say it is unlikely until next year at the earliest.

Meanwhile, leading US virus expert Dr. Anthony Fauci that a White House meeting last month appeared linked to a Covid-19 outbreak.

Dr. Fauci, a member of the White House coronavirus task force, said the unveiling of President Donald Trump’s candidate in the Supreme Court was a “super-spreader event.”

At least 11 people who attended the event on September 26th subsequently tested positive.

Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, one of those who participated in Covid-19 and became ill with it, said Saturday that he was released from the hospital. He thanked his doctors and said he would have more to say about it next week.

The president’s wife, Melania Trump, was also infected but did not need hospital treatment. She said five days ago that she was feeling fine and would continue to rest at home.

According to the US media, 34 White House employees and other contacts tested positive for Covid-19 in the past few days.

On Friday, the Minnesota Department of Health announced that nine infections have been linked to Mr Trump’s September 18 rally in the state.

At least one person was contagious when they attended, officials say, and two cases have resulted in hospital admissions, with one of those people in intensive care.

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Media signatureFour Covid Rules Broken by Trump and the White House

What about the debates?

The second presidential debate between Mr Trump and Mr Biden next week has been officially canceled.

The Presidential Debate Commission said in a statement Friday that both campaigns had announced “alternative plans for that date”.

At the request of the commission, Mr Trump had refused to hold the showdown virtually on October 15 in order to minimize the risk of the spread of coronavirus.

The commission, which is a non-partisan body responsible for organizing general election debates, said it was still making arrangements for the third and final presidential debate on October 22nd in Nashville, Tennessee.

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Joe Biden spent Friday campaigning in Nevada

The Trump campaign said the commission was “biased” against Mr Biden, while the Democratic team accused the president of avoiding the debate.

Meanwhile, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the most powerful Democrat in Washington, announced legislation on Friday to set up a commission to assess a president’s suitability for office.

Ms. Pelosi said it was not intended to rule on Mr. Trump’s condition. In any case, it is unlikely that the measure will be seriously examined before the election.

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