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SB County political parties, analysts react to President Trump’s positive COVID-19 test

SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, Calif. - Among those responding to President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump's positive COVID-19 test results are those who are politically involved in Santa Barbara County.

“I feel that we don’t need to be overreacting," Santa Barbara County GOP chair Bobbi McGinnis said Friday morning. “They’re in our prayers and we want them to get well quickly. I wouldn’t be surprised to see President Trump back on the campaign trail in about another week.”

Santa Barbara County Democratic Party Chair Gail Teton-Landis released the following statement Friday, reacting to the news:

"The corona virus diagnosis of Donald and Melania Trump is serious and concerning and I hope they both have a quick return to health. I urge the public to follow the county health guidelines that we have been told over and over again—wear a mask, stay 6 feet apart, and wash hands frequently, because every diagnosis is concerning, and we have lost over 200,000 Americans to this deadly virus."

Friday afternoon the President was transferred to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. His physician said that he was feeling "fatigued but in good spirits."

Physician Dr. Mark Abate with the Sansum Clinic's Ridley Tree Cancer Center in Santa Barbara, says he and his wife were "stunned" to hear about the President and First Lady's positive tests.

"It just goes to show that even with very frequent testing and following standard protocols, none of us are immune to contracting this highly contagious virus," Dr. Abate said. "I am somewhat reassured that CDC data suggests that the survival rate is about 95 percent in patients over 70 years of age."

Dr. Abate wished the President, who is 74, and First Lady speedy recoveries.

Longtime journalist and Ronald Reagan biographer Lou Cannon--who covered the White House for decades and now lives in Santa Barbara County--also responded to the news on Friday.

 “I have a daughter that’s had the coronavirus and I don’t wish it on anybody," said Cannon, while also saying that Trump could have taken more precautions.

"When you're speaking at political rallies like this--most of the people [at the rallies] are not masked--so he was clearly a risk to get this, so I wasn't startled by [the news]," Cannon said.

The rallies with large crowds are now on hold. Cannon says Trump will likely have to change how he campaigns, and perhaps the messaging he uses when talking about COVID-19.

“It throws an element of uncertainty into this campaign in which we’ve had one uncertainty after another," he said. “I think this does interrupt the President’s narrative that the coronavirus was—however serious it was—it was ‘Going away. It’s not gonna be a big deal.’ It is a big deal. And this is a reminder of it... If the President, who is tested, protected every day. If the President can get it, it means that any one of us can get it.”

Cannon also believes the positive tests will be a challenge for former Vice President Joe Biden.

“I don’t think Biden can be in the position of saying ‘Yeah, I told you so,’” Cannon said. “You have to show some sympathy toward the President and his wife. At the same time, you’re pointing out that it does, in fact, ratify what the Vice President has been saying about the coronavirus: which is that it’s a serious threat and that it’s not going away.”

Article Topic Follows: Coronavirus

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Ryan Fish

Ryan Fish is a reporter, sports anchor and forecaster for NewsChannel 3-12. To learn more about Ryan, click here.

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