In her recently released bestselling memoir, First Lady Melania Trump disclosed that she was "deeply worried" about the health of her son Barron (and husband Donald) when she and the then-president both tested positive for the coronavirus in October 2020.
While the president's physician, Dr Sean Conley, released a statement at the time saying that the Trumps were doing well and would "remain at home within the White House during their convalescence," the president was subsequently hospitalized out of an abundance of caution.
He was given an experimental drug cocktail injection and remdesivir, after which he quickly recovered.
The virus hit the older population and those with certain pre-existing conditions hardest, but that was not well known in the early months of the pandemic.
The first lady said she was "overwhelmed" with worry for her husband and son.
"Barron and I had spent the previous evening chatting in my room, and although he continued to test negative, I feared he might soon fall ill as well," she wrote.
"He was young and healthy, but the uncertainties surrounding the virus were daunting. As any mother would, I worried deeply about my son."
Barron did eventually contract the virus, but had only mild symptoms.
Melania Trump also recovered well, even though she didn't take the same treatments as her husband. She is more than 20 years younger than he is, and younger populations seemed to have an easier time of it if they were already fairly healthy prior to infection.
After Trump recovered, he made an address to the nation urging people to return to work.
"Don't let it [coronavirus] dominate you," he urged, adding, "We're going to be out front. As your leader, I had to do that. I knew there's danger to it, but I had to do it. I stood out front and led."
Trump went on to narrowly lose his re-election bid, and the nation was subjected to months of mask-shaming and other scare tactics by the incoming Biden administration.
Many were strong-armed into getting the COVID-19 vaccines available at the time under onerous rules that threatened their jobs for resisting.
The Supreme Court had to get involved and strike down the mandates in order to preserve the freedom to avoid these untested vaccines, which have now proven to be more risky than anyone thought at the time.
