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Trump throws masks at Florida crowd after Covid-19 diagnosis, Internet says 'a bouquet you don’t want to catch'

'I feel so powerful. I'll walk into that audience. I'll walk in there, I'll kiss everyone in that audience,' Trump said while distributing masks to supporters

SANFORD, FLORIDA: After halting his campaign trail following Covid-19 diagnosis on October 1, President Donald Trump held the first rally in Florida on Monday, October 13, and at one point started to throw face masks at the crowd of cheering supporters. 

Addressing the audience members, many of whom were maskless and none of whom were following social distancing measures, he said, "I feel so powerful. I'll walk into that audience. I'll walk in there, I'll kiss everyone in that audience." Trump had been scheduled to attend a rally at the airport on October 2, but the event was canceled after he contracted Covid-19.

The action of the president received a lot of criticism from social media users. "Like white man giving small pox infected blankets to Indians," one person tweeted, while another said, "The showman cometh and the showman spreadeth." A third remarked, "You mean he threw COVID to the audience." Someone else commented, "Good thing he touched them all over first?" Another one opined, "Viruses around the world, approve and endorse."

One of the users wrote, "So if there's a chance that he's still infected... he's handling... touching... [infecting]... masks that he wants people to put on their face... I don't suppose he's still infected, or contagious... but, as far as I know, it's possible... not a good practice..." Another said, "On the same day that studies show that the virus can live on skin for 9 hours. This is a bouquet you don’t want to catch" A person said, "The infected guy touched things that other people are supposed to put on their faces. Do I have that right?" Another mentioned, "Masks, the new paper towels"

Shortly after Trump left Washington DC, White House physician Sean Conley said the president had tested negative for the coronavirus on consecutive days. Conley said those negative results, along with data that White House doctors have collected from other tests, proved that Trump is not infectious. The doctors who attended to the president when he was admitted at the Walter Reed Military Medical Center briefly following his diagnosis, had cleared him for travel even before his consecutive negative test results.

More than 24 hours before he was set to take the stage, Trump spoke at Orlando Sanford International Airport in front of a large crowd after making a dramatic entrance on Air Force One, walking directly off the plane and onto the stage to address his supporters. “It’s great to be back in my home state, Florida, to make my official return to the campaign trail,” Trump declared.

"Look, the president — even this morning in our morning conversation — was getting on my case for not having enough rallies and public events scheduled. So he's ready to go," said Jason Miller, a senior adviser, adding that Trump will do at least "two to three events per day," leading up to Election Day. The Trump campaign said the president will also hold campaign events in Pennsylvania, Iowa, and North Carolina this week.