JAKARTA - The President of the United States (US) Donald Trump and his wife, Melania Trump have tested positive for COVID-19. This happened during the last stage of the US presidential election campaign. Trump has previously been warned against engaging in large-scale campaigns, but he has ignored expert guidance to prevent the spread of the disease.
Trump was last seen in public on the afternoon of Thursday, October 1, heading for the White House after a fundraising trip in New Jersey. He did not appear sick, but did not speak to reporters when he walked into his residence.
Trump's indifference to continuing his direct campaign may also be due to his polls which have cornered him even more. How could I not, according to a poll from RealClearPolitics, after the inaugural debate for the US presidential candidate was held, Joe Biden led with 50.1 percent of the vote. Meanwhile, Trump is 42.9 percent. Although thin, this figure is quite alarming for Trump who is obsessed with wanting to be re-elected as US President.
For months, Trump has refused to wear masks in public, except on several occasions, where he has also repeatedly questioned the effectiveness of masks while taunting Joe Biden for the more orderly masks. Lagging behind in opinion polls, in recent weeks Trump has increasingly run campaign events that deviate from public health guidelines.
Trump's high riskThe diagnosis represents the most serious known health threat to any US president in office in decades. At 74 years old and obese, Trump is in the highest risk category for serious complications from the disease. COVID-19 has killed more than 200,000 Americans and more than 1 million worldwide.
Citing CDC guidelines, people with COVID-19 have a variety of symptoms, ranging from mild to severe. Symptoms can appear within two to 14 days of exposure to the virus. Not only a health risk. A positive diagnosis for Trump also poses a risk to much of his campaign agenda.
This diagnosis means that in the next two weeks, Trump will not be able to carry out outside activities in the interest of healing and avoid passing the virus to others. Thus, Trump will miss several agendas.
Trump's schedule is actually quite tight. Judging from the website of the President's Public Schedule, in the next two weeks Trump is fulfilling his schedule by visiting several cities to deliver campaign speeches. This week Trump is scheduled to visit several cities in Wisconsin and Arizona.
Most of the agenda has been declared null and void. However, the organizers did not provide more detailed information regarding whether the event will take place virtually or actually be canceled.
Meanwhile, for next week's schedule, it is not yet known which cities Trump will visit. However, given the previous statement, in which Trump stated he would carry out a quarantine, it is certain that Trump will not make a campaign visit on that schedule.
Second presidential debateThe second round of debates for the US presidential candidates will be held on October 15. Starting from today, October 15 will be Trump's 13th day of contracting COVID-19. If you follow health protocol, it's unlikely that Trump will follow the US presidential debate face-to-face.
However, until now there has been no information on how the debates for the two US presidential candidates will be held with Trump contracting COVID-19. If Trump is too sick to lead the country, US Vice President Mike Pence will later be assigned to presidential duties.
If Pence catches COVID-19, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is likely to take over. It is feared that Pence will also catch COVID-19 because he attended a COVID-19 task force briefing at the White House with Trump, Monday, September 28.
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