WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump, who minimized the threat of the coronavirus pandemic for months, said that he and his wife Melania had tested positive for COVID-19 and were going into quarantine, upending the race for the White House.
“We will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately. We will get through this TOGETHER!” the president wrote in a tweet early this morning.
Trump, 74, is at high risk with the deadly virus both because of his age and because he is considered overweight. He has remained in good health during his time in office but is not known to exercise regularly or to follow a healthy diet.
Trump minimized the seriousness of the pandemic in its early stages and has repeatedly predicted it would go away. He rarely wears a mask and criticizes people, including Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, who do.
More than 200,000 people have died from COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, in the United States alone, with the elderly and those with pre-existing conditions especially hard hit.
Trump, a Republican, urged U.S. states to re-open shuttered economies even as the number of cases continued to soar and knocked Democratic governors for putting tough measures into place to bring the virus under control.
Trump’s positive test means that others at the highest levels of the U.S. government may have been exposed and have to quarantine, too.
A White House official said contact tracing was under way.
Trump’s physician, Sean Conley, said he expected the president to carry out his duties “without disruption” while he recovers.
“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,” Conley wrote in a memo that was distributed to the press.
Biden has criticized Trump sharply for his response to the pandemic, while the president has praised himself and his team.
Trump has held indoor and outdoor rallies with thousands of people in recent weeks in the run-up to the Nov. 3 election, despite warnings from public health professionals against having events with large crowds.
On Thursday night, shortly after the president said the pandemic’s end was in sight, news broke that Hope Hicks, a top adviser and trusted aide, had tested positive for the virus. Hicks traveled with the president on Air Force One on Tuesday and Wednesday.
CHANGE IN THE RACE
The development alters the presidential race dramatically.
The White House issued a new schedule for Trump’s activities on Friday that did not include a planned trip to Florida. Biden is scheduled to campaign in Michigan on Friday. Both states are swing states that could help decide the U.S. election.
The president’s condition is likely to bring the pandemic back to center stage in the race, after the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Trump’s subsequent nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to fill her seat, developments which had shifted the campaign’s emphasis.
Trump, who has been criticized for questioning the efficacy of wearing a face covering, produced a mask from his pocket in the first presidential debate on Tuesday and said, “I wear masks when needed. When needed, I wear masks.”
He then ridiculed Biden for putting one on regularly: “I don’t wear masks like him. Every time you see him, he’s got a mask. He could be speaking 200 feet away from them and he shows up with the biggest mask I’ve ever seen.”
Health professionals say that face coverings are key to preventing the virus from spreading.
Trump has held regular rallies around the country to drum up enthusiasm for his candidacy against the former vice president, who has eschewed campaign events with large numbers of people. Trump has taken pride in his big campaign rallies, with crowds of people who do not wear masks or maintain social distance.
He is likely to chafe at having to remain at home with only weeks to go before the election.
Futures for the S&P 500 fell 1.8% in Asian trading after the news of Trump’s positive test, extending earlier losses, while barometers of risk sentiment, such as the Australian dollar and Treasury yields, dipped.
“Trump has been trailing behind Biden and he has clearly failed to narrow the gap after the first debate … I suspect markets will lean towards the view that Biden will likely win the election,” said Naoya Oshikubo, senior economist at Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Asset Management. “What I am worried is that he will become even more aggressive against China after he caught the virus himself.”
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson kept working in isolation for a little over a week after testing positive in late March, but then fell gravely ill and was rushed into intensive care. He spent several weeks recovering before returning to work.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau went into quarantine in March after his wife was diagnosed with the coronavirus. Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro called it a “little flu” after being infected in July.
WORLD STOCK MARKETS FALL
U.S. stock futures and European stocks fell today after Trump said he and his wife had tested positive for the coronavirus.
Futures on the S&P 500 fell as much as 2% immediately after the news, while barometers of risk appetite, such as the Australian dollar and Treasury yields, dipped.
European stocks also fell sharply. [.EU]
Here are analysts’ comments:
DEREK HALPENNY, HEAD OF RESEARCH, GLOBAL MARKETS AT MUFG
“What might this news on President Trump mean? Some wires are reporting this as a risk-off event as it raises the prospect of a Biden victory and a Democrat victory is equity market negative. We are not convinced on that line of reasoning.”
“Firstly, Trump remains very competitive in key swing states … and catching COVID is unlikely to alter his support much. Indeed, if he quickly recovers it will play into his line of argument over getting the economy open being much more important.”
PAUL DONOVAN, CHIEF ECONOMIST AT UBS GLOBAL WEALTH MANAGEMENT
“News that US President Trump has tested positive for COVID-19 must be worrying at a personal level, as it would be for anyone. Markets (being impersonal) will focus on whether this affects the election outcome or public health policy.”
“The future presidential debates may not happen; these were not seen as especially significant. Those opposed to mask-wearing may revise their views, and the president’s experience may impact U.S. public health policy.”
CHRIS BAILEY, RAYMOND JAMES EUROPEAN STRATEGIST
“Naturally raises concerns about the impact on the upcoming election, running of the country and related. This followed the U.S. reporting its biggest jump in new cases in five days, including nearly 20 states reporting single day increases of more than 1,000 infections.”
CHRIS WESTON, HEAD OF RESEARCH, PEPPERSTONE, MELBOURNE
“The President of the United States has got a disease which kills people. People are de-risking because of that.”
“The next point is how far has this has gone in (to the administration), which has big implications for the elections. The worst case scenario is we could see the election pushed back a bit.
“But it really depends on what we are talking about. Are we talking about a situation where he gets it and doesn’t turn up to debates? Or he gets it and uses it to say: ‘I’ve survived this, I’m a fighter,’ – or he passes away…we’ve got a lot of questions and not a lot of answers immediately available.”
JULIAN WEE, INVESTMENT STRATEGIST, CREDIT SUISSE, SINGAPORE
“The initial market reaction has been negative but I’m not sure that well prove enduring.
“Ultimately, once the initial kneejerk reaction has passed, the market will probably focus on what it might mean for the elections. And so far, the narrative has been turning more positive over the last week or so. Our official base case is for a Democratic sweep, pretty much in line with latest polling.”
KHOON GOH, HEAD OF ASIA RESEARCH, ANZ , SINGAPORE
“At this stage, it is too early to tell yet how this may affect the election outcome. Markets have sold off in a knee jerk reaction to the news, which is understandable.”
“The dollar was bought initially, but has since sold off. I imagine so long as it appears both the President and the First Lady are in reasonable condition, these market moves will unwind.”
NAOYA OSHIKUBO, SENIOR ECONOMIST, SUMITOMO MITSUI TRUST ASSET MANAGEMENT, TOKYO
“Trump has been trailing behind Biden and he has clearly failed to narrow the gap after the first debate, which is the most important of the three debates. I suspect markets will lean towards the view that Biden will likely win the election.
“What I am worried is that he will become even more aggressive against China after he caught the virus himself for I got the impression that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has become more anti-China after he had COVID-19.
“For the time being it will be difficult for financial markets to be on risk-on mood.
AYAKO SERA, MARKET STRATEGIST, SUMITOMO MITSUI TRUST BANK, TOKYO:
“We are seeing typical risk-off trades now, but as far as we know Trump is not gravely ill. It is possible that by the time we reach New York trading that markets will have calmed down.
“If Trump’s symptoms are mild and he stages a quick recovery, his support could increase, which would be similar to what happened with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.
“However, this does damage Trump’s ability to campaign and time is running out before the election.
“Whether it’s Trump or Biden, the biggest problem is uncertainty. As long as we’re uncertain about who will win the election, it is difficult for markets to truly settle.”
Reporting by Jeff Mason; Vidya Ranganathan and Tom Westbrook in Singapore; Stanley White, Hideyuki Sano in Tokyo; Nikhil Nainan Kurian in Bengaluru; Thyagaraju Adinarayan in London; Additional reporting by Aishwarya Nair; Editing by William Mallard, Michael Perry, Muralikumar Anantharaman and Peter Graff
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
—REUTERS