Oct 12, 2020 - Health

White House physician says Trump has tested negative with COVID rapid test

Fadel Allassan

President Trump tested negative for COVID-19 with an Abbott BinaxNOW rapid antigen test "on consecutive days," according to a memo from White House physician Sean Conley shared by press secretary Kayleigh McEnany. Conley did not specify what days Trump tested negative.

The state of play: The memo comes days after Conley said Trump had met the "CDC criteria for the safe discontinuation of isolation" and "is no longer considered a transmission risk to others."

It also comes as the president has resumed holding public events, like a rally he held from the White House last Saturday and a campaign event he has planned in Florida on Monday.
Rapid tests like the one Conley said Trump has taken are less accurate in detecting the virus than the more sensitive PCR swab tests.

Worth noting: The White House has still not shared the timing of Trump's last negative test before his Oct. 2 announcement that he had contracted the virus, citing privacy reasons.

The bottom line: Conley wrote that the president's "repeatedly negative antigen tests," along with clinical and laboratory data, "have informed our medical team's assessment that the President is not infectious to others."

Go deeper: GOP social-distances Trump

Add Axios on Google

White House physician says Trump has tested negative with COVID rapid test

What to read next