Last Updated : Nov 21, 2020 08:19 AM IST | Source: Moneycontrol.com

Donald Trump Jr tests positive for COVID-19

Donald Trump Jr's positive test follows infections for a string of others connected to the White House, including his father, who was hospitalized, the president's wife Melania and Trump's youngest son Barron.

AFP
(Image: Reuters)
(Image: Reuters)

US President Donald Trump's eldest son Donald Trump Jr has tested positive for COVID-19 and is quarantining without symptoms, the latest in a long list of infections among those with links to the White House.

"Don tested positive at the start of the week and has been quarantining out at his cabin since the result," his spokesman said.

"He's been completely asymptomatic so far and is following all medically recommended COVID-19 guidelines," the spokesman said of the 42-year-old.

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Trump Jr's positive test follows infections for a string of others connected to the White House, including his father, who was hospitalized, the president's wife Melania and Trump's youngest son Barron.

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

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A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

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There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

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Donald Jr's girlfriend, former Fox News host Kimberly Guilfoyle, also tested positive in July.

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Earlier Friday, Andrew Giuliani, a White House aide and son of the president's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, announced he had tested positive.

Trump Jr is one of the most outspoken and aggressive defenders of his father, who is still refusing to recognize his defeat to Democrat Joe Biden in the November 3 presidential election.

In the days after the vote, Trump Jr called for his father to go to "total war" against what he calls electoral fraud despite no evidence to support the claim.

Like his father he has also consistently downplayed the pandemic, telling Fox News as the virus surged around the country last month that deaths from Covid-19 had fallen to "almost nothing."

Surging cases 

Trump's administration has been heavily criticized for its response to the pandemic and for downplaying the dangers.

Many in the crowds at his pre-election rallies were often maskless and not abiding by social-distancing rules.

They were a sharp contrast with Biden's drive-in rallies and his scrupulous mask-wearing.

On Monday, the president-elect expressed frustration over Trump's refusal to cooperate on the White House transition process, saying "more people may die" of coronavirus without immediate coordination on fighting the pandemic.

With Trump refusing to concede defeat, Biden and his team have been unable to coordinate with government officials on crucial continuity of issues like national security, but also on emergencies like a distribution plan for COVID-19 vaccines to tens of millions of Americans.

Current US numbers -- more than a quarter of a million deaths have been reported -- have alarmed authorities enough to advise that people stay home for next week's Thanksgiving holiday, when Americans usually travel to be with their families.

New York City has shut down schools for its 1.1 million students, while California will impose a 10:00 pm to 5:00 am curfew from Saturday.

There was however a new sign of hope on Friday as US biotech giant Pfizer and German partner BioNTech sought approval to roll out their coronavirus vaccine early.
First Published on Nov 21, 2020 08:15 am

tags #coronavirus #Donald Trump #US #World News