By: Anokhi Luthra
Immunity to the coronavirus. Even the most powerful, the richest, or the strongest, don't have it. On October 2, Mr. Trump tweeted that Melania Trump and himself had tested positive for the coronavirus. There was no clear date for when he started feeling symptoms, but he did come in contact with many other people during the time that he could have been infected. Mike Pence, the former vice president, tested negative even after many close interactions with Mr. Trump. It is also unclear whether the president knew he was infected during the time of the presidential debate with US presidential candidate, now president, Joe Biden. Dr. Sean Conley, the White House physician for Mr. Trump, claimed that by October 11, the former president was no longer infectious, meaning he couldn’t pass on the virus to anyone else.
The treatment Trump received for recovery was similar to that of a hospitalized patient with COVID-19. Aside from the treatment, Trump received resources and medicines faster than a normal patient would have, and took REGN-COV2 - an experimental drug that had only been tested on 2,000 patients before him. The team of doctors working for Trump were assuring everyone that his condition was improving steadily, and was on the fastest track to being fit again.
Mr. Trump is no longer feeling any symptoms, and according to one of his tweets, he received, “A total and complete sign off from White House Doctors [on October 10]. That means I can’t get it (immune), and can’t give it. Very nice to know!!!” This twitter post makes it very clear that Trump is back to being healthy, but it was flagged by Twitter because it is “violating the Twitter Rules about spreading misleading and potentially harmful information related to COVID-19”. This is because someone who has recovered from COVID-19 is still at risk of getting infected again. Even though it didn’t follow guidelines, Twitter decided not to remove the tweet because it was in the public’s interest to keep it up. Trump continues to tell people that they shouldn’t be afraid of the virus, and masks should be optional, but this is a good chance for people to realize that no one is immune to the virus - not even the president.
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