Trump hits Biden in 1st rally since contracting coronavirus

Just a week after his release from the hospital, President Trump returned to the campaign trail Monday for the first time since contracting the coronavirus as he tries to stage a late comeback in the election’s final stretch.

Trump, whose doctor said Monday for the first time that he had received a negative test for COVID-19, faces a stubborn deficit in national and battleground state polling. He headlined a rally in Sanford, Fla. — the first stop in a busy week that will include events in Pennsylvania, Iowa, North Carolina and Wisconsin.

He hit rival Joe Biden hard at the 7 p.m. rally in an airport hanger, saying “If (Biden) wins the radical left will be running the country. They’re addicted to power … They want to punish the middle class. They will replace the American dream with a socialist nightmare,” he added.

The robust schedule underscores the work Trump needs to do as he tries to win over voters just three weeks before Election Day. And it comes amid still-unanswered questions about the impact so much travel so soon could have on the 74-year-old president’s health. The progression of COVID-19 is often unpredictable, and there can be long-term complications.

After Air Force One lifted off from Joint Base Andrews, the president’s doctor released an update on his health that said Trump had tested negative for the virus — and had done so on consecutive days. His doctor, Navy Cmdr. Scott Conley, said that the tests, taking in conjunction with other data, including viral load, have led him to conclude that Trump was not contagious.

For days, the White House had sidestepped questions as to whether Trump had tested negative. Conley over the weekend said that the president met Centers for Disease Control and Prevention criteria for safely discontinuing isolation and that by “currently recognized standards,” Trump was no longer considered a transmission risk.

Trump, eager to return to campaigning, says he is now “immune” to the virus — a claim that is impossible to prove given limitations in what scientists know about the coronavirus.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious-disease expert, said Monday on CNN that those who recover from COVID-19 are likely to be immune for a limited period of time, but there are cases emerging of people getting reinfected weeks or months later.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3iSOiUp