DOUG MILLS/THE NEW YORK TIMES

DOUG MILLS/THE NEW YORK TIMES

ERIN SCHAFF/THE NEW YORK TIMES

FridayOct. 2

At about 1 a.m., President Trump announced on Twitter that he and hiswife, Melania, had tested positive. Late in the day, he was taken to WalterReed Hospital for several days. His campaign canceled all in-person events.

ThursdayOct. 1

Mr. Trump held a fund-raiser at his golf course in Bedminster, N.J., and,after returning to the White House, confirmed on Twitter at 10:44 p.m. thatHope Hicks, a close personal adviser, had tested positive for the virus.

WednesdaySept. 30

Ms. Hicks began feeling ill after traveling with Mr. Trump to a rally inDuluth, Minn., and a fund-raiser in Shorewood, Minn. She was isolatedaboard Air Force One on the trip back to Washington.

TuesdaySept. 29

Debating Joseph R. Biden Jr. in Cleveland, Mr. Trump mocked Mr. Bidenfor frequently wearing a mask. When Mr. Biden said experts advocatedusing them, Mr. Trump responded, “They’ve also said the opposite.”

MondaySept. 28

Mr. Trump met on the South Lawn with workers from the Lordstown(Ohio) Motors plant, then held an event in the Rose Garden to announce anew virus testing strategy. “I say it all the time, we are rounding the corner.”

SundaySept. 27

After visiting his golf course in Sterling, Va., Mr. Trump held a news con-ference at the White House and a reception for Gold Star families attendedby his wife, Melania, and Vice President Mike Pence and his wife, Karen.

SaturdaySept. 26

Mr. Trump introduced Judge Amy Coney Barrett as his Supreme Courtpick. Senators Mike Lee and Thom Tillis were among attendees whotested positive days later. Mr. Trump also held a rally in Middletown, Pa.

PRESIDENT IN HOSPITAL AS HE BATTLES COVID

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WASHINGTON — PresidentTrump, like many men in his 70s,has mild heart disease. He takes astatin drug to treat high choles-terol and aspirin to prevent heartattacks. And at 244 pounds in ahealth summary released in June,he has crossed the line into obes-ity.

All of that, experts say, puts himat greater risk for a serious bout ofCovid-19. So far, White House offi-cials say Mr. Trump’s symptomsare mild — a low-grade fever, fa-tigue, nasal congestion and acough — but it is far too soon to tellhow the disease will progress.

“He is 74, he’s hefty and he’smale, and those three things to-

gether put him in a higher-riskgroup for a severe infection,” saidDr. William Schaffner, an infec-tious disease specialist at Vander-bilt University, adding: “Althoughhe is being watched meticulouslyand may well do fine for a fewdays, he is not out of the woods,because people can crash afterthat period of time. This is a verysneaky virus.”

Mr. Trump will no doubt benefitfrom the best medical care theUnited States has to offer. On Fri-day evening, he was taken to Wal-ter Reed National Military Medi-cal Center in Bethesda, Md., thenation’s premier military hospital,

Three Biggest Risks for Trump:He’s 74, Overweight and Male

By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG

Continued on Page A7

WASHINGTON — Marine One,its engines roaring, was waitingon the South Lawn of the WhiteHouse Thursday afternoon whenPresident Trump walked out ofthe Oval Office, offering a briefwave but skipping his usual ver-bal combat with reporters.

As he lifted off and banked to-ward the Washington Monument,his aides were scrambling. HopeHicks, his closest confidante in theWest Wing, was supposed to havebeen on board, but she had justtested positive for the coronavirusafter falling ill the evening beforewhile traveling with the presidentto Minnesota. Two other senioraides who had been in close con-

tact with Ms. Hicks were quicklypulled from the president’s trip toNew Jersey, where he planned toschmooze with at least 200 cam-paign donors.

During Mr. Trump’s 14-minuteflight to Joint Base Andrews, thehome of Air Force One, the WhiteHouse had a choice to make, offi-cials said: Cancel the president’strip, or shrug off the threat andmove forward as planned — eventhough Mr. Trump had been in fre-quent contact with Ms. Hicks dur-ing the previous two days, whendoctors say she would have beenmost contagious.

The decision to go ahead withthe trip was emblematic of Mr.Trump’s approach to the ragingpandemic since the beginning.

Over Several Days and Events,The Virus Swirled Around TrumpThis article is by Michael D.

Shear, Maggie Haberman and Ken-neth P. Vogel.

Continued on Page A12

off Twitter nearly all day whilepeople close to the situation saidhis fever and other symptomsworsened as the hours wore on.

“I want to thank everybody forthe tremendous support,” Mr.Trump, wearing a suit and tie butappearing unusually pale and le-thargic, said in an 18-second videotaped just before getting on theMarine One helicopter and thenposted on Twitter in his first publiccomment of the day. “I’m going toWalter Reed hospital. I think I’mdoing very well, but we’re going tomake sure that things work out.”

The president donned a blackface mask and emerged from theWhite House shortly after 6 p.m.,giving a perfunctory thumbs up toreporters without stopping tospeak as he walked unassisted tothe helicopter. He was accompa-nied by Mark Meadows, the WhiteHouse chief of staff, who was alsowearing a mask.

The hospital trip was an abruptchange in plans after Vice Presi-dent Mike Pence had told gover-nors earlier in the day that thepresident would remain at theWhite House. One administration

WASHINGTON — PresidentTrump was hospitalized on Fridayevening after learning he had thecoronavirus and experiencingwhat aides called coughing, con-gestion and fever, throwing thenation’s leadership into uncer-tainty and destabilizing an al-ready volatile campaign only 32days before the election.

Mr. Trump was flown to WalterReed National Military MedicalCenter after being given an ex-perimental antibody treatment asthe White House rushed to copewith a commander in chief in-fected by a virus that has killedmore than 208,000 people in theUnited States. Officials said hewould remain in the hospital forseveral days and canceled upcom-ing campaign events.

The White House shrouded Mr.Trump’s condition in secrecy, say-ing little more than that he had“mild symptoms,” and officialscharacterized the hospital stay asa precautionary measure. But thenormally voluble president re-mained almost entirely out of pub-lic view, skipped a telephone callwith governors at the last minuteand uncharacteristically stayed

By PETER BAKER and MAGGIE HABERMAN

Experimental Treatment Given— Stay to Last for a ‘Few Days’

Washington

Middletown, Pa.Sept. 26 rally

Bedminster, N.J.Oct. 1 event

ClevelandSept. 29 debate

Shorewood,Minn.

Fund-raiser

Duluth, Minn.Rally

Sept. 30Minn.

Ohio

Pa.N.J.

Where the President Traveled

THE NEW YORK TIMES

Continued on Page A6

Coronavirus and conflict, protest andmourning: a look at a turbulent yearthat changed the N.B.A. PAGE B6

The Stormiest SeasonOn Instagram, Nadeen Ashraf named aman accused of sexual assault. She lit afire. The Saturday Profile. PAGE A15

Egypt’s #MeToo Leader

France’s president addressed the coun-try’s difficulty integrating its populationof Muslim immigrants. PAGE A17

INTERNATIONAL A15-17

Ending ‘Islamist Separatism’“Biodegradable” or “compostable” on aproduct’s packaging might not mean itis as environmentally friendly as youhad hoped. PAGE A18

NATIONAL A18-21, 24

Not the Bottle You ImaginedPayrolls grew last month, but perma-nent layoffs are rising, the labor force iscontracting, and fewer women areemployed. PAGE B1

BUSINESS B1-5

A Blow to Economic RecoveryMask wearing among college footballcoaches has been irregular, and therehas not been enforcement. PAGE B6

SPORTSSATURDAY B6-10

Not Covering Their Game FaceIn many movies of the time, characterswere loud, neurotic and mean. Thesedays, the edges are sanded off. PAGE C1

ARTS C1-6

1988 Was a Rough Year

Recordings in the Breonna Taylor caseinclude witness interviews and 911 calls,but little from prosecutors. PAGE A21

Grand Jury Tapes Made PublicNews that President Trump testedpositive for the coronavirus jolted themarkets. “It’s just par for the coursethis year,” one expert said. PAGE B1

More Uncertainty for Markets

Tesla reported record deliveries in thethird quarter as growing interest inelectric vehicles and other cars boostedsales across the industry. PAGE B1

Auto Industry Rebounds

Ensembles shut by the pandemic areshaking up programming. Composers ofcolor hope it’s for the long haul. PAGE C1

Orchestras Add Black Artists

As indoor dining returns to New YorkCity, restaurant workers face new dan-gers. Critic’s Notebook. PAGE A4

TRACKING AN OUTBREAK A4-14

With Indoor Dining, Risks RiseRoger Cohen PAGE A22

EDITORIAL, OP-ED A22-23

WASHINGTON — PresidentTrump’s announcement on Fridaythat he had contracted the corona-virus upended the presidentialrace in an instant, leaving bothsides to confront a wrenching setof strategic choices and unexpect-ed questions that will help shapethe final month before ElectionDay.

As the president boarded Ma-rine One to fly to the Walter ReedNational Military Medical Centerfor treatment, his aides an-nounced that they were suspend-ing his campaign events and thoseof his family members, who arehis most ubiquitous surrogates.Privately, his top advisers ex-pressed shock at the turn ofevents and hope that Mr. Trump’ssymptoms would remain mild andhe could at least begin appearingon television next week.

At the same time, Joseph R. Bi-den Jr., Mr. Trump’s Democraticrival, disclosed that he had testednegative for the virus and contin-ued to campaign, beginning with acampaign trip on Friday to Michi-gan.

With Mr. Biden already leadingin the polls, and Mr. Trump’s elec-toral prospects dependent on hisability to campaign, the presidenthas little time to change the trajec-tory of the race. The fate of his re-

Dueling CampsFace UnknownIn Final Stretch

By JONATHAN MARTINand MAGGIE HABERMAN

Continued on Page A9

The 2020 election was alwaysgoing to end like this.

Perhaps not precisely like this.Perhaps not with the presidentand the first lady contracting thecoronavirus, along with the headof the Republican National Com-mittee and members of the WhiteHouse staff. Perhaps not with thecampaign calendar thrown intodisarray and the remainingdebates in jeopardy.

But if the nature of this Octo-ber climax was unpredictable, itseemed all but foreordained thatthe coronavirus pandemic woulddominate the campaign to theend. And for all of the tumult ofthe race between PresidentTrump and Joseph R. Biden Jr. —for all of the other currents bat-tering the country and its leadersin an election year — the issue ofthe virus has never retreated asthe overwhelming factor.

As a singular force in the coun-try’s political life, the pandemichas resisted Mr. Trump’s effortsto change the subject andquashed the wishful thinking ofcountless voters who shared hishope it would fade quickly. It hasendured through a season ofracial justice protests andspasms of vandalism and vio-lence, through the death of aSupreme Court justice and therevelations of Mr. Trump’s per-sonal tax returns and a fiasco ofa presidential debate just thisweek.

And after all of the efforts byMr. Trump to dismiss the diseaseas a threat, and all of the angstamong his opponents that hemight manage to convince votershe was right, his diagnosis con-firmed with a neon exclamationpoint the impossibility of thatgoal.

Anne-Marie Slaughter, thehead of New America, a liberal-leaning think tank, said the “om-nipresence” of the pandemic had

POLITICAL MEMO

By ALEXANDER BURNS

Continued on Page A8

Now There’s NoSpinning AwayPandemic’s Toll

Late Edition

VOL. CLXX . . . No. 58,835 © 2020 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2020

Today, sunshine, near-normal tem-peratures for early October, high 67.Tonight, clear, low 51. Tomorrow,clouds and sunshine, cooler, high 65.Weather map appears on Page B12.

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