Donald Trump has claimed he is immune to coronavirus and told a rally it makes him feel ‘so powerful’ he would jump into the crowd and give supporters a ‘big fat kiss’.
The US president called the pandemic a ‘lovefest’ and threw face masks into the crowd of hundreds at the Orlando Sanford International Airport, Florida, on Monday night.
Trump told the predominantly mask-less audience: ‘One thing with me, the nice part: I went through it, now they say I’m immune.
‘I feel so powerful, I’ll walk into that audience. I’ll walk in there, I’ll kiss everyone in that audience. I’ll kiss the guys and the beautiful women, everyone, I’ll just give you a big fat kiss.’
Speaking at his first rally since falling ill, the 74-year-old president defended his handling of the pandemic – which has so far killed 215,000 Americans – in a bid to revive his campaign with just weeks to go until Election Day.
Although he was admitted to hospital with the virus only a week ago, Trump claimed to the audience the pandemic was almost a thing of the past.
He said: ‘Under my leadership, we’re delivering a safe vaccine and a rapid recovery like no one can even believe.
‘If you look at our upward path, no country in the world has recovered the way we have recovered.’
The president again promised to give every American the experimental antibody treatment he received while hospitalised with the virus. Medics have said it is too early in the drug’s trial period to say whether it is effective.
He told the crowd: ‘We are going to take whatever the hell they gave me and we are going to distribute it around to hospitals and everyone’s going to have the same damn thing.’
As of Monday, 31 states reported more new cases than the week before, while nine confirmed record-high Covid-19 hospital admission rates on Sunday.
Dr Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious-disease expert, said people who have recovered from the virus were likely to be immune for a limited period of time and cases are emerging of people being re-infected weeks or months later.
He also questioned whether the president holding such a large rally was a good idea, noting transmission rates were climbing in parts of the Sun Belt.
Dr Fauci told CNN: ‘We know that that is asking for trouble when you do that.’
During his defiant Covid-19 message, Trump soon took a swipe at his Democratic rival Joe Biden and insisted he would be the best man for the job due to his claimed immunity.
He promised the third-quarter economy would be ‘record-setting’ and claimed that if he won next month ‘normal life’ would resume, whereas Biden would delay the vaccine and destroy the economy with a ‘draconian’ lockdown.
Trump continued to mock Biden for his efforts to encourage social distancing at his campaign events, calling them ‘crazy’.
In a swipe at his rival, who has stuck to the guidelines since the outset of the pandemic, he told the crowd: ‘When you’re the president you can’t lock yourself in a basement and say “I’m not going to bother with the world.”
‘It’s risky. But you gotta get out.’
After about an hour of speaking, Trump left the stage with his new exit song YMCA blaring over the loudspeakers and performed what has become his trademark dance – pumping his fists to the beat.
The president did not wear a mask during the rally, nor when he left the White House on Monday or during any other part of the trip.
After Air Force One lifted off from Washington, the president’s doctor released an update on his health saying Trump tested negative for the virus and had done so on consecutive days.
His doctor, Navy Commander Scott Conley, said the tests have led him to conclude that Trump is no longer infectious.
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source https://metro.co.uk/2020/10/13/trump-tells-fans-hell-give-them-big-fat-kiss-after-covid-infection-at-packed-rally-13412428/