October 5 Trump Covid-19 news

By Helen Regan, Adam Renton, Steve George, Nick Thompson, Meg Wagner, Melissa Macaya and Amy Woodyatt, CNN

Updated 2:57 p.m. ET, November 23, 2020
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12:45 p.m. ET, October 5, 2020

White House press secretary tests positive for Covid-19

From CNN's Jason Hoffman

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany talks to the media on October 4 outside the White House in Washington, DC.
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany talks to the media on October 4 outside the White House in Washington, DC. Jacquelyn Martin/AP

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany tweeted today that she tested positive for Covid-19 on Monday morning.

She says she is experiencing no symptoms and had no knowledge of Hope Hicks' testing positive before her briefing last Thursday. 

She said in a statement posted on her Twitter account that she will begin to quarantine.

McEnany is at least the 11th person close to President Trump to have recently tested positive for the virus. 

Read her tweet:

11:02 a.m. ET, October 5, 2020

Pence tests negative again and is still scheduled to head to Salt Lake City

From CNN's Betsy Klein

Vice President Mike Pence speaks at an event hosted by The Family Leader Foundation on October 1 in Des Moines, Iowa.
Vice President Mike Pence speaks at an event hosted by The Family Leader Foundation on October 1 in Des Moines, Iowa. Charlie Neibergall/AP

Vice President Mike Pence and second lady Karen Pence again tested negative for Covid-19 Monday morning, an administration official tells CNN.

Vice President Mike Pence is still scheduled to travel to Salt Lake City, Utah today, according to daily guidance released by his office moments ago.

Pence is set to debate Sen. Kamala Harris in the vice presidential debate in that city Wednesday.

10:59 a.m. ET, October 5, 2020

Melania Trump tweets that she is "feeling good" and will continue to rest at home

From CNN's Kate Bennett

First Lady Melania Trump speaks during a roundtable on sickle cell disease in the State Dining Room of the White House on September 14 in Washington, DC.
First Lady Melania Trump speaks during a roundtable on sickle cell disease in the State Dining Room of the White House on September 14 in Washington, DC. Alex Wong/Getty Images

First lady Melania Trump has tweeted she is “feeling good & will continue to rest at home” after testing positive for Covid-19 last week.

She also thanked medical staff and caretakers, and said she was praying for those affected by coronavirus. CNN has reported the first lady has no plans to leave the White House while she battles the disease. 

“My family is grateful for all of the prayers & support! I am feeling good & will continue to rest at home. Thank you to medical staff & caretakers everywhere, & my continued prayers for those who are ill or have a family member impacted by the virus," the tweet said.

See her tweet:

10:43 a.m. ET, October 5, 2020

Regeneron president says "not appropriate" to comment about when White House asked for experimental treatment 

From CNN's Naomi Thomas and Jen Christensen

CNN
CNN

Dr. George Yancopoulos, founding scientist, president and chief scientific officer of Regeneron, said that it wouldn’t be appropriate to comment on when the White House got in touch to ask for the experimental Covid-19 treatment President Trump received.  

Yancopoulos said on CNN on Monday that as physician scientists, they respect patient privacy and in doing so, leave questions like this to the patient and their direct physicians.

“It’s not appropriate for us to be commenting on things like that,” Yancopoulos said. 

When asked if they had heard from the President’s team over the weekend, Yancopoulos said they hear the same thing about the President as everyone else. 

“What we hear is very much, I think, what you’ve been hearing,” Yancopoulos said. “That he’s been doing exceedingly well, and that they’re very optimistic.” 

Remember: The White House confirmed doctors gave President Trump a single 8-gram dose of Regeneron’s experimental antibody therapy to treat Covid-19.

Regeneron, a New York-based biotech company, confirmed that it provided the drug in what’s commonly known as a “compassionate use” request from the President’s physicians.

The therapy is known as REGN-COV2; the company calls it a “cocktail” of two monoclonal antibodies.

Polyclonal antibodies are made using several different immune cells, while monoclonal antibodies are made using identical immune cells that are clones of a specific parent cell. 

To make its monoclonal antibody therapy, Regeneron scientists selected two antibodies that best neutralized a version of the novel coronavirus in the lab. They then cloned these antibodies and put it into a treatment. Regeneron is using two antibodies since they think it will work best as the virus mutates.

Read more here.

10:08 a.m. ET, October 5, 2020

Fauci says he doesn’t want to comment on Trump’s Sunday SUV ride

From CNN’s Naomi Thomas

President Donald Trump waves to supporters outside Walter Reed medical center in Bethesda, Maryland, on October 4.
President Donald Trump waves to supporters outside Walter Reed medical center in Bethesda, Maryland, on October 4. Alex Edelman/AFP/Getty Images

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Disease, said on CNN Monday that period from when someone is able to spread the coronavirus to when they show symptoms varies from person to person, and the general guideline is that it’s safe for a person to go out 10 days after they developed symptoms.

But Fauci declined to comment about President Trump’s SUV ride on Sunday, a few days after Trump developed symptoms. 

Fauci said that there have been studies that tried to isolate the virus when people are in the disease state or recovering and they don’t have it. 

He said the period when someone is contagious is “usually before they get symptomatic and for a few days thereafter."

“The general guidelines are when is it safe for a person to go out from the time they get symptoms is probably around 10 days from the onset of symptoms –– you usually have no virus and in the studies that have been done, those people generally are not at all infective to other people,” Fauci told CNN’s John Berman.  

When asked by Berman about the President riding in an SUV on Sunday about four days after he reportedly showed symptoms, Fauci responded, “I don’t want to really go there, John, and comment on that.”

10:05 a.m. ET, October 5, 2020

Fauci: There has been nothing like "the intensity that we're experiencing" with Covid-19

From CNN's Aditi Sangal

Dr. Anthony Fauci on CNN's "New Day" on October 5.
Dr. Anthony Fauci on CNN's "New Day" on October 5. CNN

The nation’s top infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci has worked on a number of outbreaks, including HIV/AIDS, Ebola and Zika virus. Even though every outbreak has been intense, he says, there has been “nothing to the intensity that we're experiencing now” and that what’s different this time is “a very divisive society.”

“The issue that's a bit different here now … is that we're living in such a very divisive society right now, not only in the United States but even globally, that's very charged politically,” he told CNN Monday.

“You always have a degree of that when you have outbreaks as we've been in the past but nothing to the intensity that we're experiencing now with Covid-19," Fauci said.

Basing decisions and actions on science is critical, he said.

“Make sure you stay on that path because otherwise things don't work out right,” he added.

9:53 a.m. ET, October 5, 2020

New Jersey governor calls for federal cooperation on contact tracing following a Trump fundraiser event

From CNN's Aditi Sangal

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy on CNN's "New Day" on October 5.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy on CNN's "New Day" on October 5. CNN

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy is calling for federal cooperation as authorities continue to contact trace after President Trump’s big-dollar fundraiser at his New Jersey golf club Thursday night despite the President and staff knowing he had been exposed to coronavirus.

“We're taking the lead. We got on it immediately, both at the state level and the local level. But, you know, we need cooperation from the feds,” he told CNN Monday. “Remember, the staff all live in New Jersey even though the attendees were from around the country.”

“We need everybody to punch at their weight here,” he added.

The President announced he and first lady Melania Trump tested positive for coronavirus roughly eight hours after leaving the fundraiser, when he was back at the White House.

Murphy also emphasized the need for everyone at the Trump event to self-quarantine.

“Please, god, if you know you're exposed to someone who is Covid-positive, you need to quarantine,” he said. “I don't want to be the grinch here but that’s the way we have got to deal with this virus.”

“This borders on reckless in terms of exposing people not just in New Jersey, but looks like from folks around the country, who have now scattered by the way,” he added.

Watch more:

9:41 a.m. ET, October 5, 2020

US stocks open higher after doctors say Trump may be discharged today

From CNN’s Anneken Tappe

Wall Street opened higher on Monday after President Trump’s doctors said he might be released from the hospital today. 

That said, there’s still a lot of room for volatility. Aside from the President’s health, hopes for a new round of fiscal stimulus and uncertainty surrounding the election in four weeks are keeping investors on their toes.

Here's how things looked at the opening bell:

  • The Dow opened 0.8%, or 207 points, higher.
  • The S&P 500 rose 0.7%.
  • The Nasdaq Composite opened up 0.8%.
11:28 a.m. ET, October 5, 2020

Fauci says everyone at the Rose Garden event should "absolutely" be contacted by contact tracers

From CNN's Amanda Watts

Dr. Anthony Fauci on CNN's "New Day" on October 5.
Dr. Anthony Fauci on CNN's "New Day" on October 5. CNN

Dr. Anthony Fauci said everyone who was at the White House Rose Garden event should “absolutely” be contacted by contact tracers.

Speaking to CNN’s John Berman on New Day on Monday, Fauci said he is not involved in the contact tracing efforts underway.

“I don't know what the process of the contact tracing is that's going on at the White House,” he said. “In general, the CDC is very much involved with the local authority.”

Berman said he was surprised to hear that New York Times reporter Michael Shear – who did not attend the event, but was at the White House that Saturday, traveled on Air Force One that night, and has now tested positive for Covid-19 – has not been contacted for contact tracing. “Yes, absolutely,” Fauci replied.

Though Fauci wouldn’t comment specifically about the contact tracing efforts, he did say, “But the one thing we do know is that when you get cases, if you have a situation where someone comes into contact and is infected, and you know that there are people around him, that it the important public health measure is to do the identification, isolation and contact tracing.”

Fauci said the goal is “so that you can get people who have been exposed, to go into the appropriate quarantine, get tested and do the things that are very clearly delineated in the CDC guidelines.”

Correction: An earlier version of this post incorrectly stated that New York Times reporter Michael Shear attended the Rose Garden event. Shear did not attend the event, but was at the White House that Saturday. 

Watch Dr. Fauci: