President Trump held a rally in Sanford, Florida, a little more than a week after being released from the Walter Reed Hospital due to COVID-19. For the first time on October 12, the president returned to the campaign trail since he tested positive for the coronavirus.
President Trump back on the campaign trail
The president declared in front of a massive crowd that he was happy to be back in his home state and to mark his official return to the campaign trail. Trump's supporters, thousands of them, were standing close to each other, breaking social distancing protocols, and most of them were without masks.
According to President Trump, after being given experimental medication and other VIP treatment, he was now feeling better. He was happy that there was no need for him to be concerned about the infection because he was now immune, according to US News.
Displaying no signs of a lingering infection, the president said that he felt so powerful. He said that he would join the crowd and kiss everyone there.
Also Read: Trump Says He Has 'Protective Glow' After being Cured from COVID-19, Adds He Now Has Immunity
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the infectious-disease expert of the country, told 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 contracting COVID-19 again weeks or months later.
With three weeks to go before Election Day, President Trump is pushing to go high in the polls as his numbers continue to decline. On October 12, before his rally in Florida, his doctor said that President Trump had tested negative of COVID-19 after his treatment.
Florida is one of the swing states, and its numbers are critical to President Trump's reelection chances. He was able to beat his 2016 rival, Democrat Hillary Clinton, in the state by over 112,000 votes. There are polls that show a close race between the president and Democrat Joe Biden while other polls show that Biden is ahead.
The Sanford rally was the president's first stop. His administration announced that he will also be going to Iowa, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Wisconsin this week, according to The Washington Post.
The president's health
The president's busy schedule had people thinking about what it would do to the 74-year-old president's health. The progression of COVID-19 is unpredictable. There can be long-term complications, and based on his age and underlying health conditions, he could contract the virus again if he is not careful.
Dr. Sean Conley released an update on the president's health before he flew to Florida, stating that President Trump had tested negative for the virus. He added that the test had led him to conclude that the president was not contagious.
For days, the White House had avoided questions about whether President Trump had tested negative.
According to Dr. Conley, the president met the criteria of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for safely discontinuing isolation and that by "currently recognized standards," the president was no longer considered a risk.
However, other medical experts are skeptical over the result, and they deemed it odd that the president tested negative so soon. It was unclear if there were any added precautions and safety measures that the campaign planned to prevent the virus from spreading further as they go from state to state.
Related Article: Trump: COVID-19 Negative, Not Infectious - White House Doctors
