Trump Says Son Barron Is Okay but 'Not As Happy' as He Could Be While Social Distancing at Home
President Donald Trump’s teenage son seems to be keeping to himself while social distancing at the White House.
As coronavirus restrictions tighten around the country, with the majority of governors opting to issue statewide stay-at-home orders, the president was asked how 14-year-old Barron is handing life in isolation.
“He’s like everyone else,” Trump, 73, said at a Saturday news briefing at the White House. “He’s in his room. He’s happy, but he’s not as happy as you could be.”
“He’d like to be playing sports, Barron,” the president added, noting that his teen son, who is largely kept out of the public eye given his age, is “a good athlete, and he loves soccer.”
Last month, as President Trump began taking a more serious tone while discussing the virus, he also addressed what kind of conversations he was having with his “youngest son,” who was then just days away from his 14th birthday.
“He says, ‘How bad is this?’ It’s bad, it’s bad,” the president said then. “But we’re going to be hopefully a best case, not a worst case, and that’s what we’re working for.”
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Trump will also be spending his time in the foreseeable future at home in Washington, D.C.
“I doubt I’ll leave,” he told reporters last week, noting that while he would “love to go out,” he doesn’t see himself traveling in April.
“I’ll be in the White House,” he added, as he stressed the importance of making sure he remains healthy.
President Donald Trump
Trump has been tested twice for coronavirus and tested negative both times, according to him and White House staff.
“I did take a test that just came out,” he said last week during a daily press briefing. “ I think I took it really out of curiosity to see how quickly it worked and fast it worked.”
White House Physician Sean P. Conley previously explained in a memorandum obtained by PEOPLE that Trump was “healthy and without symptoms.”
He was first tested in March.
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News of Trump’s second test came days after White House experts warned that, at best, between 100,000 and 240,000 Americans could die from coronavirus-related illness, according to the available models and data.
But officials stressed last week that with social distancing and other counter-measures, they hoped to ensure a lower death toll.
Noting that the final death toll could be lower, Dr. Anthony Fauci, a leading infectious disease expert and member of Trump‘s coronavirus task force stressed that “this is a number that we need to anticipate.”
As of Monday, there have been at least 336,776 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the U.S. and 9,655 deaths.
Worldwide, there have been over 1.2 million confirmed cases and more than 70,000 people have died.
As information about the coronavirus pandemic rapidly changes, PEOPLE is committed to providing the most recent data in our coverage. Some of the information in this story may have changed after publication. For the latest on COVID-19, readers are encouraged to use online resources from CDC, WHO, and local public health departments. To help provide doctors and nurses on the front lines with life-saving medical resources, donate to Direct Relief here.
