President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump have tested positive for COVID-19, the president announced early Friday. The president announced his positive diagnosis shortly after one of his close aides, Hope Hicks, was confirmed to have been infected with the coronavirus.
'I Don't Wear Masks Like Him'
In the wake of Trump's announcement, a video of him mocking former Vice President Joe Biden for wearing a face mask during their first presidential debate on Tuesday is being widely circulated on social media.
During the debate, Trump defended his decision to make public appearances without a facial covering, explaining that he wears a mask "when needed."
The president then proceeded to make a mockery of his Democratic rival for wearing a mask every time he steps out in public, which he Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended in order to mitigate the spread of the virus.
"I don't wear masks like him. Every time you see him, he's got a mask," Trump said, before adding that Biden "could be speaking 200 feet away" and then "shows up with the biggest mask I've ever seen."
'End of the Pandemic is in Sight'
Ironically, just hours before testing positive, the president touted advances in treatment and a reduced fatality rate at the Al Smith Dinner on Thursday, before adding that the end of the coronavirus pandemic was "in sight."
"I just want to say that the end of the pandemic is in sight," Trump added, predicting that 2021 would be "one of the greatest years in the history of our country."
Trump's Refusal to Wear a Face Mask
The left-wing political action committee Meidas Touch also put on a new attack ad against Trump along with the caption, "Be smart. The virus is real. Trump's lies have consequences."
The video includes a compilation of some of his past statements on wearing a face mask. "I don't see it for myself," Trump tells reporters when asked about wearing a mask in one of the clips from April.
Another snippet shows footage from the president's rose garden press conference last month during which he asks a reporter to remove his mask because he couldn't hear him. In a subsequent clip, Trump tells a large crowd of supporters that coronavirus "affects virtually nobody."
Trump's positive diagnosis comes with barely one month left until the U.S. presidential election that has focused heavily on Trump's response to the coronavirus pandemic, which Biden and his campaign have criticized as slow and ineffective.
