Trump tests negative for coronavirus, according to White House physician
WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump’s physician has announced that Trump has tested negative for the coronavirus.
In a memo distributed by White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany, Dr. Sean Conley wrote that Trump had “tested NEGATIVE, on consecutive days, using the Abbott BinaxNow antigen card.”
Trump acknowledged Oct. 2 that he and first lady Melania Trump had tested positive for COVID-19.
The confirmation of the president’s negative coronavirus result came as Trump jumped back on the campaign trail a week after his release from the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Maryland after contracting the virus.
Trump held a Saturday event at the White House, where he spoke to a large crowd of supporters from a balcony. The president was in Florida on Monday for a planned rally.
At the White House event on Saturday, Trump appeared without a mask and with bandages visible on his hands. Trump spoke for just 18 minutes — less than his usual campaign rallies, which can last upwards of 90 minutes.
U.S. President Donald Trump addresses a rally in support of law and order on the South Lawn of the White House on October 10, 2020 in Washington, DC.
Trump was set Monday to deliver remarks at an event in Sanford, Florida that he had canceled last week after testing positive for COVID-19.
FOX 13 reported that some attendees lined up for the rally as early as 5 a.m. One Trump supporter on Twitter even said that she lined up on Sunday night for the rally.
About 100 people were lined up by 9 a.m.
Trump plans a Wednesday rally at the Iowa Air National Guard hangar at the Des Moines International Airport.
Last week, the Commission on Presidential Debates scrapped the second match-up between Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden originally set for Oct. 15. The two remaining debates between Trump and Biden were thrown into uncertainty Thursday as the rival camps offered dueling proposals for the events that were upended by the president’s coronavirus infection.
RELATED: 2nd presidential debate officially scrapped after Trump refuses virtual showdown
Trump ruled out the possibility of a virtual format for the debate, which prompted Biden to schedule a town hall with ABC News for that night once Trump said he would not participate.
Ahead of the White House physician’s letter stating Trump’s negative coronavirus result, the president proclaimed himself cured from the illness, claiming that he is now “immune” to the coronavirus.
"Yes, and not only that, it seems like I'm immune, so I can go way out of a basement, which I would have done anyway," Trump said in response to a question from "Sunday Morning Futures" host Maria Bartiromo.
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.
The Associated Press and FOX News contributed to this story.