Donald Trump Jr. tests positive for COVID-19

U.S. President Donald Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., has tested positive for the coronavirus, a spokesman said Friday.

The spokesman said Trump Jr. tested positive earlier this week and has been “completely asymptomatic.” He said Trump Jr. was “following all medically recommended COVID-19 guidelines.”

Trump Jr., 42, is the latest member of the president’s family to become infected with the virus as cases surge across the country.

The president, first lady Melania Trump and their son Barron contracted COVID-19 in October and have since recovered. Donald Trump Jr.’s girlfriend, Kimberly Guilfoyle, tested positive for the coronavirus in July.

The United States has seen increases in coronavirus cases over the past several weeks, with numerous one-day records set and quickly broken. On Thursday, the U.S. registered another daily record, almost 188,000.

As of Friday evening EST, total coronavirus infections in the United States had passed 11.9 million, according to the Johns Hopkins University Resource Center. The U.S. has had more coronavirus cases than any other country. The U.S. also has the world’s largest COVID-19 death toll, with more than 254,000.

The country is now averaging more than 1,300 COVID-19 deaths per day, according to The Associated Press — the highest level since the virus swept through New York City in the spring. Deaths from the virus in the United States reached about 2,200 a day in late April.

California curfew

Most residents in California will begin a 10 p.m.-to-5 a.m. curfew Saturday to try to stop the spread of the virus. The curfew affects 41 of the state’s 58 counties.

Earlier Friday, U.S. pharmaceutical company Pfizer and its German partner, BioNTech, said they had filed for emergency authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to use their COVID-19 vaccine, saying they were poised to begin distribution within hours of receiving authorization.

The application came after the companies said testing had shown the vaccine to have an effectiveness rate of 95%, with no serious safety concerns observed to date.

U.S. Health Secretary Alex Azar said Friday that the FDA could make a decision about emergency use of the vaccine candidate within weeks.

On Thursday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and an alliance of three professional medical groups released separate statements urging Americans to stay home for next week’s Thanksgiving celebrations and to rethink their holiday observances.

The groups expressed concern that coronavirus cases and deaths could jump if Americans did not scale back their traditional Thanksgiving plans.

Spikes after holidays

“Positive cases spiked after Memorial Day, after the Fourth of July, after Labor Day and now – two weeks after Halloween,” the American Hospital Association, the American Medical Association and the American Nurses Association said in a joint open letter.

The statement from the CDC urged Americans not to travel to see their loved ones but instead to “celebrate at home with the people you live with.”

The CDC statement came just a week before Thanksgiving and after many Americans had made travel arrangements for the holiday. (VOA)