In a Twitter message posted early Friday morning, President Trump announced that he and First Lady Melania Trump have tested positive for coronavirus. 

“Tonight, @FLOTUS and I tested positive for COVID-19. We will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately. We will get through this TOGETHER!,” the president’s message said.

Friday morning, Vice President Mike Pence’s press secretary Devin O’Malley announced on Twitter that the vice president and his wife, Karen, both tested negative for the coronavirus.

“Vice President Pence remains in good health and wishes the Trumps well in their recovery,” O’Malley said.

The news about the president and the first lady came after the White House had announced on Thursday, Oct. 1, that the president adviser Hope Hicks had tested positive.

Hicks had been in close contact with the president in recent days, traveling with him aboard the Air Force One to Minnesota for a campaign rally in Duluth. She had started exhibiting minor symptoms of COVID-19 by the time the rally in Minnesota was held.

Half an hour after the president’s tweet, First Lady Melania Trump posted a message also on Twitter sating that they were both “feeling good.” 

Dr. Sean P. Conley, the White House physician, released a statement saying, “The president and first lady are both well at this time, and they plan to remain at home within the White House during their convalescence.” 

“The White House medical team and I will maintain a vigilant watch,” he added, “and I appreciate the support provided by some of our country’s greatest medical professionals and institutions. Rest assured I expect the president to continue carrying out his duties without disruption while recovering, and I will keep you updated on any future developments.”

The news that the first couple has tested positive to the coronavirus adds another level of uncertainty to the final weeks of the presidential campaign. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has killed 207,000 Americans and has now reached the presidential family. 

During recent months, the president has regularly downplayed the severity of the pandemic and appeared in public without wearing a mask. Hours before the announcement, in his prerecorded remarks at the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner, held virtually in New York on Thursday, Sep. 30, President Trump had said “I just want to say that the end of the pandemic is in sight.”