US President Donald Trump holds a face mask at a press briefing. Photo / Getty Images
US President Donald Trump holds a face mask at a press briefing. Photo / Getty Images
US President Donald Trump is deciding whether to undertake a televised address to the nation, despite showing mild symptoms of coronavirus.
US media reported Trump is experiencing cold-like symptoms after announcing both he and first lady Melania Trump had tested positive to Covid-19 in the early hours of Friday morning, local time.
The couple were tested after being in close contact with special adviser Hope Hicks, who started showing symptoms of the virus on Wednesday and received a positive diagnosis on Thursday.
The New York Times reported the president had previously seemed "raspy" in public and lethargic after a fundraiser at his Bedminster, New Jersey golf club on Thursday, where he came into contact with about 100 people.
He is also said to have fallen asleep on the plane on a flight home from a rally in Minnesota on Wednesday night.
The president's treatment plan is still under discussion, the New York Times reports.
One option is a televised or video address to the nation to prove he is still functioning as leader.
There are also key questions around whether the president attended the New Jersey rally once contact-tracing was already underway after Hicks' positive result.
White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said early Friday morning local time, the Trumps "remain in good spirits".
"The president does have mild symptoms," he said outside the White House.
"He continues to be not only in good spirits but very energetic."
"We talked a number of times this morning. He is certainly wanting to make sure that we stay engaged. The doctors continue to monitor his health and the health of the first lady."
"The great thing about this president is not only is he staying committed to working very hard ... his first question to me this morning was 'how is the economy doing? How are the stimulus talks doing?"
Meadows declined to comment on whether the president was taking any particular treatment for Covid.
"We have a president that is not only on the job but will remain on the job, I'm optimistic that he will have a very quick and speedy recovery," he said.
Trump walks to Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House on October 1. Photo / Getty Images
The shock diagnosis just over 30 days out from the US election has rocked Washington and the world, pausing Trump's campaign and throwing the second debate with Democratic contender Joe Biden into doubt.
Trump has been criticised for taking a cavalier attitude to the virus, rarely seen wearing a mask in public and continuing to hold busy rallies in defiance of official medical advice.
In the past week he has undertaken at least eight flights, two helicopter rides, three rallies and one presidential debate, according to the Mail Online.
Earlier this week, he told Fox News' Sean Hannity about the difficulty of maintaining social distancing.
"It's very hard when you're with soldiers, when you are with airmen, when you're with the Marines, and the police officers, I'm with them so much," he told Fox News.
"And when they come over to you, it's hard to say, 'stay back, stay back'. You know, it's a tough kind of a situation, it's a terrible thing.
However, official advice is to isolate over an incubation period in which symptoms can still appear.
Adviser Hope Hicks has been named as a potential source of the Trumps' infection, but Scott Gottlieb, former commissioner of the FDA, told the Mail Online this was unlikely as they started showing symptoms within days and it's more likely the pair were exposed by another source earlier.
