The girlfriend of President Donald Trump's eldest son has tested positive for coronavirus, US media reported on Friday.
Kimberly Guilfoyle, a former Fox News television personality who is dating Donald Trump Jr, had traveled to South Dakota to see the US president's Fourth of July speech and celebration fireworks at Mount Rushmore.
Sergio Gor, chief of staff to the Trump campaign’s finance committee, says Guilfoyle was immediately isolated after the positive result to limit exposure. He says she will be retested to confirm the diagnosis because she isn’t showing any symptoms of COVID-19, the disease the virus causes. Gor says Guilfoyle is doing well and canceling her public events.
Sergion Gor says Donald Trump Jr. tested negative but is self-isolating as a precaution. He is also canceling his public events.
The couple was in South Dakota to hold fundraisers for Trump’s reelection. Trump is giving a pre-Fourth of July speech at Mount Rushmore in South Dakota.
With the US setting another record in newly reported coronavirus cases on Friday, thousands have gathered at Trump’s Independence Day celebration at Mount Rushmore — and few are wearing protective masks.
Nor was there any evidence of social distancing in the tightly packed audience assembled for Trump’s speech and a fireworks display.
Trump did offer thanks to "the doctors, nurses and scientists working tirelessly to kill the virus.”
Republican Gov. Kristi Noem, a Trump ally, had said social distancing wouldn’t be required during the event and masks would be optional. Event organisers were to provide masks to anyone who wanted them and planned to screen attendees for symptoms of COVID-19.
Many parades and fireworks displays across the nation were canceled over the holiday weekend, with confirmed cases climbing in 40 states. The US saw 52,300 newly reported cases Friday, according to the tally kept by Johns Hopkins University.
Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter, put out a tweet on Friday night urging Americans to "Practice proper hygiene, social distancing & wear a mask when in close proximity to others.”
Associated Press