Coronavirus live blog, Oct. 2, 2020: She got her coronavirus miracle, surviving 3 weeks in a coma. Then came the hard part.

President Donald Trump announced early Friday that he and First Lady Melania Trump tested positive for the coronavirus. Later in the afternoon, it was announced the president would be entering Walter Reed Medical Center as a precautionary measure. This news sent shock waves and reverberations throughout the country and world.

Here’s what happened today in the fight against the coronavirus in Chicago, the state and the world.

News

9 p.m. She got her coronavirus miracle, surviving 3 weeks in a coma. Then came the hard part.

Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times

When Karla Taylor-Bauman went home after 54 days in hospitals, including 21 days on a ventilator in an induced coma, she called her survival from coronavirus a miracle.

But miracles don’t come easy, the Lake Villa woman has found.

Four months later, she isn’t fully back to normal. She tires easily, can’t climb more than a handful of stairs and, still needing continued care, hasn’t been able to go back to her job as a financial adviser.

Having been so sick — after she got out, her doctor, Dennis McCreary, described her condition as having been “as close to brain dead as you get without being brain dead” — she knew recovery would take time.

Read the full story by Stefano Esposito here.

7:15 p.m. Trump gets experimental drug aimed at curbing severe illness

The experimental antibody drug given to President Donald Trump has been called one of the most promising approaches to preventing serious illness from a COVID-19 infection.

Its maker, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., said the company agreed to supply a single dose, given through an IV, for Trump at the request of his physician under “compassionate use” provisions, when an experimental medicine is provided on a case-by-case emergency basis, while studies of it continue.

The new drug is in late-stage testing and its safety and effectiveness are not yet known. No treatment has yet proved able to prevent serious illness after a coronavirus infection.

Read the full story here.

6 p.m. Trump walks to Marine One, gives thumbs up on way to military hospital after testing positive for coronavirus

President Donald Trump appeared in public Friday evening for the first time since being stricken by COVID-19, boarding his Marine One helicopter for a flight to a military hospital as the virus that has killed more than 205,000 Americans spread to the highest reaches of the U.S. government.

The White House said the visit of “a few days” to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center was precautionary and that Trump would continue to work from the hospital’s presidential suite, which is equipped to allow him to keep up his official duties.

Trump walked out of the White House and gave a thumbs-up but did not speak. Members of the aircrew, Secret Service agents and White House staff wore face coverings to protect themselves from the president onboard the helicopter.

Read the full story here.

5:05 p.m. Gas tax hikes pile up: States become desperate for road repair revenue as COVID-19 reduces driving

Americans who want to stay socially distant during the COVID-19 pandemic now have another reason to think twice before going out for gas.

Several states have increased gas taxes in recent months to make up for sudden shortfalls in revenue devoted to road repairs.

As Americans drive less during the pandemic, due partly to social distancing and remote work arrangements, gasoline demand has fallen. That’s one key factor triggering the tax increases as lawmakers seek to limit the impact of lower revenue on road repair budgets.

Read the full story here.

3:15 p.m. Coronavirus claims 47 more lives in Illinois, highest daily death toll in three months

Public health officials on Friday announced 47 more people have died of COVID-19 in Illinois, the most lives the virus has claimed in a single day statewide since late June.

The latest victims — ranging in age from their 40s to 90s — come from all corners of the state, spanning Chicago’s suburbs down to Williamson County in southern Illinois, and from Madison County in the Metro East region to Stephenson County in the northwest.

The virus has now killed at least 8,743 Illinoisans over the last 200 days — an average of 44 deaths per day.

Read the full story by Mitchell Armentrout here.

2:30 p.m. Notre Dame president tests positive for COVID-19 days after not wearing mask at White House ceremony

Notre Dame President Rev. John Jenkins, who apologized earlier in the week for not wearing a mask and shaking hands with others during a White House ceremony, tested positive for COVID-19.

The university relayed the news to students and faculty in a letter Friday, saying Jenkins is entering into “an extended period of isolation.”

On Monday, Jenkins said he regretted not taking widely recommended precautions to guard against the virus during the Rose Garden nomination of Notre Dame alum Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court over the weekend.

Read the full story by Brett Chase here.

1:45 p.m. Biden tests negative for COVID-19 following debate with Trump

Joe Biden is moving forward with plans to travel to Michigan on Friday after he and his wife, Jill, tested negative for the coronavirus.

The Democratic presidential nominee had planned on traveling to Grand Rapids, Michigan, to talk about the economy on Friday morning. His trip was delayed by several hours as he awaited the test results.

He was tested for the virus after attending Tuesday’s debate with President Donald Trump. The president said early Friday that he and his wife, Melania Trump, tested positive for coronavirus.

Dr. Kevin O’Connor released the negative results in a statement issued by the Biden campaign. Biden was on the debate stage with Trump for more than 90 minutes earlier in the week.

Read the full story here.

1 p.m. Barron Trump tests negative for COVID-19 as Trump, first lady Melania quarantine

Barron Trump, the 14-year-old son of President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump, has tested negative for the coronavirus after his parents’ positive diagnosis.

“Barron has tested negative, and all precautions are being taken to ensure he’s kept safe and healthy,” Stephanie Grisham, the first lady’s chief of staff and spokeswoman, told USA TODAY.

President Trump was presumably exposed by his aide, Hope Hicks. It was announced that she had tested positive for COVID-19 and was symptomatic on Thursday. She appears to have been diagnosed on Wednesday evening when she flew with the president to Minnesota.

The teenager’s private school was set to begin “a phased transition to hybrid learning” this month.

Read the full story here.

11:30 a.m. World reacts to Trump’s COVID-19 diagnosis

News that the world’s most powerful man was infected with the world’s most notorious disease drew instant reactions of shock, sympathy, undisguised glee and, of course, the ever-present outrage and curiosity surrounding everything about President Donald Trump.

Trump’s announcement Friday, on Twitter, that he and first lady Melania Trump tested positive for the coronavirus, and the deep uncertainty that accompanied it, flashed across screens large and small, upending countless plans and sparking comment everywhere from presidential offices to the thousands looking to weigh in on social media.

The positive test reading for the leader of the world’s largest economy adds more uncertainty to investors’ worries, especially about its effect on the Nov. 3 election between the Republican president and Democrat Joe Biden. U.S. stock futures and most world markets fell on the news as did the price of oil.

World leaders were quick to weigh in, with official sympathy from the top and something approaching schadenfreude elsewhere. Trump joins a growing list of the powerful who have contracted the virus, including many who were skeptical of the disease.

Read the full story here.

8:58 a.m. Shares, oil prices sink after Trump tests positive for virus

U.S. stock futures and Asian shares fell Friday after President Donald Trump said he and first lady Melania Trump had tested positive for the new coronavirus.

The future contracts for both the S&P 500 and the Dow industrials dropped nearly 2% but were trading 1.2% lower several hours later. Oil prices tumbled about 3%.

Trump tweeted news of his test results just hours after the White House announced that senior aide Hope Hicks had come down with the virus after traveling with the president several times this week.

The positive test reading for the leader of the world’s largest economy heaps uncertainty onto a growing pile of unknowns investors are grappling with, first among them how it might affect the Nov. 3 election and American policies on trade, tariffs and many other issues beyond then.

“To say this potentially could be a big deal is an understatement,” Rabobank said in a commentary. “Anyway, everything now takes a backseat to the latest incredible twist in this US election campaign.”

Read the full report here.

7:48 a.m. President Trump and first lady test positive for COVID-19

President Donald Trump said early Friday that he and first lady Melania Trump have tested positive for the coronavirus, a stunning announcement that plunges the country deeper into uncertainty just a month before the presidential election.

Trump, who has spent much of the year downplaying the threat of a virus that has killed more than 205,000 Americans, said he and Mrs. Trump were quarantining. The White House physician said the president is expected to continue carrying out his duties “without disruption” while recovering.

Still, Trump’s diagnosis was sure to have a destabilizing effect in Washington, raising questions about how far the virus had spread through the highest levels of the U.S. government. Hours before Trump announced he had contracted the virus, the White House said a top aide who had traveled with him during the week had tested positive.

Read the full initial report here.

6:13 a.m. Pritzker to self-isolate after staff member tests positive for COVID-19

Gov. J.B. Pritzker will self-isolate for 14 days after a member of his staff tested positive for COVID-19.

The staff member, who was not identified by state officials, tested positive for the virus Monday after testing negative for the virus last week during weekly testing, according to Pritzker’s office.

That staffer attended events with Pritzker on Wednesday in Chicago, Thursday in Marion and Sunday in Marseilles; both the governor and the staffer were wearing masks during their interactions.

Read the full story here.

New cases

• These government officials have all tested positive for coronavirus: President Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, senior adviser to the president Hope Hicks.
• Two more Titans players test positive in COVID-19 outbreak.
• Public health officials on Thursday announced 2,166 more people have contracted COVID-19 in Illinois as the virus claimed 25 more lives statewide.
• More than 295,000 residents have tested positive for the virus since the pandemic hit six months ago, with 8,696 of those cases proving fatal. Among the latest victims was a Cook County woman in her 40s, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.

Analysis & Commentary

9:18 a.m. Cover ‘Trump gets COVID’ on your Disaster Bingo card

It’s terrible to be sick.

Even when you have good health insurance and the best medical care. Even when you’re the president of the United States. Even when contracting this particular illness reeks of karma, of payback, of divine justice, the way it does for President Donald Trump and his wife, Melania, who announced early Friday they have tested positive for COVID-19, the novel coronavirus that has killed a million people worldwide, including 206,000 Americans.

There will no doubt be a certain amount of gloating, of snide “thoughts and prayers” chortling. Guess that hydroxychloroquine didn’t do the trick after all, huh?

I can see why. Only Tuesday Trump was in full bore bullying mode at the first presidential debate in Cleveland, speaking over his opponent, former Vice President Joe Biden, insulting him and the rest of us.

But the quality that ties one hand behind the back of Democrats in this fight is our ability to empathize with other people, even bad people. And in truth I have always felt sorry for Trump, clearly a broken man, his ego so damaged it must be constantly stroked. Living proof that you can be rich, famous, powerful and still a pathetic excuse for a human being who just can’t stop talking, mostly about himself.

Read Neil Steinberg’s full column here.