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Trump says Barron had Covid-19 for '2 seconds', slammed for using son as 'political ploy' in school reopen bid

'Barron’s tested positive. Within, like, two seconds it was Barron is just fine now. He’s tested negative, right?'

President Donald Trump turned his son's recovery from Covid-19 into a pitch to reopen schools amid the pandemic - something that the POTUS has been unsuccessfully pushing for months now - at a campaign rally in Des Moines, Iowa, on Wednesday, October 14.

In his latest endeavor to convince a crowd that sending their kids back to school was a good idea, Trump mentioned the fact that 14-year-old Barron Trump was unaffected by the virus because of his immune system. “Barron Trump, he had the corona-19,” the president said. “He had the China virus, right? And he had it for such a short period of time. I don’t even think he knew he had it because they’re young and their immune systems are strong and they fight it off 99.9 percent. And Barron is beautiful, and he’s free, free.”

“Barron’s tested positive. Within, like, two seconds it was Barron is just fine now. He’s tested negative, right? Because it happens. People have it and it goes. Get the kids back to school, we’ve got to get the kids back to school,” he said.

Referring to the fact that his wife, Melania Trump, had shared the news of the teenager testing positive earlier that day, the POTUS shrugged it aside as no big deal. “It happens. People have it, and it goes. Get the kids back to school. We’ve got to get them back to school,” the president told the crowd. So far, St Andrew's Episcopal School, the private institution that Barron attends in the Washington DC area, has conducted all-virtual classes and has given no tentative date as to when it would open.

Meanwhile, the president was accused of using his own son for furthering his "political purposes". "Trump is now using his son Barron for political purposes," one user wrote after Trump was seen using Barron's coronavirus diagnosis to his advantage. Another commented, "This is awful. Grownups around him failed to protect him. These are grossly irresponsible people." A third opined, "Trump used Barron’s pos Covid case to push to reopen schools, telling the crowd he was unaffected because of his immune system. 'It happens. People have it and it goes' Who does Trump think 14-year-olds live with? Do their parents have access to helicopter rides to Walter Reed?"

Another user called on the first lady to intervene. "Hey @FLOTUS Leave Barron out of this! How pathetic to use a child for a political ploy You should have your child taken away! #BeBest my a**!" the user said. Someone else remarked, "Trump just said #Barron had #COVID19 for like 2 seconds n is now cured n just fine. Then yelled to open the schools He's making a joke out of covid in it's fucking not funny!! Trump says he's in perfect physical shape n very young n that's why he was cured so fast. #trumpisunwell."

We previously reported that on Wednesday, Melania issued a major health update revealing that she had tested negative but her son, Barron, was tested positive in the second round of testing. In a long letter titled "My personal experience with Covid-19", Melania confirmed that her son too was infected with the virus despite showing no symptoms and a negative test result. "Naturally, my mind went immediately to our son," she said while penning her thoughts after the first couple tested positive at the beginning of the month. She added, "To our great relief he tested negative, but again, as so many parents have thought over the past several months, I couldn’t help but think 'what about tomorrow or the next day?'. My fear came true when he was tested again and it came up positive. Luckily he is a strong teenager and exhibited no symptoms." According to reports, the 14-year-old is now negative for Covid-19.