Trump Brings Up Barron's COVID Case at Rally

The world found out Wednesday that 14-year-old Barron Trump had COVID-19 at the same time his parents did, though his case was an asymptomatic one. News of the diagnosis came via a statement from Melania Trump, but President Trump himself discussed it at a Wednesday night rally—while pushing for schools to fully reopen. "Barron Trump, he had the corona-19," Trump said to the crowd in Des Moines, Iowa, per the Hill. "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%. And Barron is beautiful, and he’s free, free." He then added: "It happens. People have it, and it goes. Get the kids back to school. We've got to get them back to school."

Many US schools are still in all-virtual or hybrid mode to stop the spread of the virus, including St. Andrew's Episcopal School in DC, which Barron Trump attends. The president's push Wednesday to open schools back up is a doubling down on remarks he's made in the past, including his false claim that children are "virtually immune" from the coronavirus. Evidence has so far shown that children who get COVID-19 aren't as likely to get as sick or die as other age groups, though that doesn't mean they can't get and spread it to others, or even that it won't hit them hard, per Business Insider. "Most children with COVID-19 have mild symptoms or have no symptoms at all," the CDC notes. "However, some children can get severely ill from COVID-19. They might require hospitalization, intensive care, or a ventilator to help them breathe. In rare cases, they might die." (More Barron Trump stories.)