WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 06th October, 2020) US President Donald Trump left the hospital after three days of COVID-19 treatment and defiantly called on Americans not to be afraid of the virus, while Democratic candidate Joe Biden's lead in the polls widened.
Trump left the Walter Reed hospital Monday evening and returned to the White House, where he took off his protective mask and posed for photos from the second-floor Truman balcony.
"Don't let it dominate you. Don't be afraid of it," Trump said in a video clip he posted on Twitter less than two hours after being released from the hospital. "You are going to beat it. We have the best medical equipment and the best medicines."
White House physician Sean Conley told reporters earlier that Trump has not entirely recovered yet, but has met all the criteria to be discharged from the hospital following his COVID-19 diagnosis and that his conditions have improved in the last 72 hours.
White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said she tested positive for COVID-19, but so far has experienced no symptoms. Two other White House press officers also tested positive for the disease, CNN reported Monday, citing two sources.
TRUMP TO PARTICIPATE IN NEXT DEBATE
Despite contracting COVID-19, Trump plans to participate in the next presidential debate scheduled on October 15 in Miami, Florida, Trump Campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh said on Monday.
"It is the president's intention to debate," Murtaugh said when asked by CNN about debate plans.
Last Tuesday's first presidential debate was widely criticized for being chaotic and negative. Trump interrupted his rival Biden several times during the event.
Biden's lead over Trump nationally has surpassed the 8-percent mark, a FiveThirtyEight news site poll revealed on Monday.
FiveThirtyEight gave Biden 50.9 percent support compared to only 42.7 percent for Trump. The results marked a small but clear increase in support for Biden of around one percent since last Tuesday's debate.
US voters say the economy will be the most important issue as they cast their ballots in the November 3 presidential election, a new Gallup poll showed on Monday.
Biden criticized Trump's record in failing to protect the 40-million strong Hispanic American community from a disproportionate impact and death toll in the COVID-19 pandemic and for the failure of his policies on Cuba in a speech in the Little Havana section of Miami.
Biden said Hispanic Americans were contracting COVID-19 at three times the national average and that their deaths from the virus were also disproportionately high.
He also criticized Trump's tough isolating policies on Cuba saying they had failed to force the Havana government to become more moderate.
The Cuban-American community in Florida overwhelmingly supported Trump when he narrowly won the state in the 2016 presidential election. Biden leads in Florida by two percent, according to poll aggregator Realclearpolitics.com.
