Trump taken to hospital after testing positive for COVID-19

United States President Donald Trump was headed to the hospital Friday after he and first lady Melania Trump tested positive for COVID-19, raising fresh questions about the American president’s health. 

Trump, 74, was going to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, in what aides said was a precautionary move. Officials said they expected him to be there for a few days. 

White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said the president "remains in good spirits, has mild symptoms, and has been working throughout the day." 

"Out of an abundance of caution, and at the recommendation of his physician and medical experts, the President will be working from the presidential offices at Walter Reed for the next few days. President Trump appreciates the outpouring of support for both he and the First Lady," she added. 

At 74, the president is five times more likely to be hospitalized and 90 times more likely to die of COVID-19 than someone between the ages of 18 and 29, according to the CDC.    

The president's diagnosis, which he tweeted just before 1 a.m. on Friday, sent shockwaves through Washington and across the country, causing markets to plummet just weeks before the presidential election.  

Going welI, I think! Thank you to all. LOVE!!!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 3, 2020

Trump was administered a single 8-gram dose of Regeneron’s polyclonal antibody cocktail as a precautionary measure, according to a memo from White House physician Dr Sean Conley. The antibody cocktail is being studied in four late-stage clinical trials and its safety and efficacy have not been fully evaluated by any regulatory authority, the company said on its page.  

The president also has been taking zinc, vitamin D, famotidine, melatonin and a daily aspirin, Conley said.  

Conley said the first lady was experiencing only a "mild cough and headache." He added that other members of the president's family are well and tested negative for COVID-19.  

Trump revealed his test results after his one of his closest advisers, Hope Hicks, who joined the president on a series of recent trips, had been infected. Hicks began feeling symptoms on a return flight from the president's rally in Minnesota on Wednesday and was isolated from other passengers on the plane. 

White House officials knew Hicks tested positive before Trump travelled to his golf resort in Bedminster, New Jersey, to attend a fundraiser Thursday. 

Vice President Mike Pence and second lady Karen Pence both tested negative. Former Vice President Joe Biden and his wife Jill Biden announced they also tested negative after coming into contact with the president at Tuesday's first presidential debate in Cleveland, Ohio. 

Officials said presidents have a suite of offices at Walter Reed, and doctors recommended that Trump use it as a precaution in light of his positive COVID test. 

Obviously, we’re in the midst of a big political battle right now, and while there’s a lot at stake, let’s remember that we’re all Americans. We’re all human beings. And we want everyone to be healthy, no matter our party.

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) October 2, 2020

Aides insisted the president is fine, walking around and talking, and that this is a precautionary move. 

If the president should need a procedure and becomes incapacitated, he will temporarily cede authority to Vice President Mike Pence, who tested negative for COVID-19 earlier on Friday.  

Section 3 of the 25th Amendment to the Constitution, which lays out succession should the president become incapacitated, has only been invoked three times since it was adopted in 1967. 

Former President Ronald Reagan invoked it when he had surgery to remove a cancerous polyp in his large intestine in 1985 and George W. Bush twice used it when he underwent routine colonoscopies.