First lady: Son Barron had coronavirus, but no symptoms

WASHINGTON — Melania Trump said Wednesday that Barron, her son and that of the president, tested positive for the coronavirus not long after his parents, but had no symptoms. She made the revelation in a lengthy note chronicling her personal experience with COVID-19, including being hit with a “roller coaster” of symptoms that she treated naturally with vitamins and healthy food.

Melania Trump said she is now negative and hopes to resume her duties soon.

After she and President Donald Trump tested positive earlier this month, the White House said 14-yearold Barron had tested negative. Barron later tested positive for the virus but had no symptoms, she said Wednesday, adding that he has since tested negative again.

The president, speaking at a campaign rally Wednesday night in Iowa, was cavalier about Barron’s infection, saying, “He had it for such a short period of time, I don’t even think he knew that he had it.”

“Barron is just fine,” Trump added, using his son’s quick recovery as part of his pitch to reopen schools. “It happens. People have it and it goes. Get the kids back to school. We’ve got to get the kids back to school.”

Melania Trump shared that after she and her husband first received their positive results, “naturally, my mind went immediately to our son.” She said she was relieved when he tested negative at first, but kept thinking about what would happen in the days to come.

“My fear came true when he was tested again and it came up positive,” the first lady wrote in a statement released to social media.

Sounding a bit like the president, the first lady said she was “glad the three of us went through this at the same time so we could take care of one another and spend time together.”

Melania Trump did not explain why Barron’s positive diagnosis was not made public earlier, but she has fiercely protected the ninthgrader’s privacy.