--- title: Trump COVID-19: Older People at Higher Risk From Coronavirus description: President Donald Trump, 74, does not appear to share many of the risk factors that make older people more susceptible to infection and severe COVID-19. canonical: https://time.com/5895439/trump-covid-19-coronavirus-age/ author: Alice Park article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2020-10-02T11:17:35.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-24T09:16:32.719Z article:section: Health og:title: At 74, President Trump Is at Higher Risk of COVID-19 Complications og:description: Here's what we know about older people and the coronavirus og:url: https://time.com/5895439/trump-covid-19-coronavirus-age/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt626e07d7fe3c80ee/698a12cbb21a9c260a504157/trump-covid-19-coronavirus-age.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: Trump COVID-19 Coronavirus Age og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: At 74, President Trump Is at Higher Risk of COVID-19 Complications twitter:description: Here's what we know about older people and the coronavirus twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt626e07d7fe3c80ee/698a12cbb21a9c260a504157/trump-covid-19-coronavirus-age.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # At 74, President Trump Is at Higher Risk of COVID-19 Complications > Sponsored content. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators.  by [Alice Park](https://time.com/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park Senior Correspondent Oct 2, 2020 11:17 AM UTC  U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters on his way to Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House on September 30, 2020 in Washington, D.C. U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters on his way to Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House on September 30, 2020 in Washington, D.C. Drew Angerer—Getty Images)  by [Alice Park](https://time.com/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park Senior Correspondent Oct 2, 2020 11:17 AM UTC The news that U.S. President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump have [tested positive for COVID-19](https://time.com/5895414/donald-trump-covid-19-election/) is a reminder of two stark truths that we’ve known since the first days that the novel coronavirus reached the United States: that the virus respects no boundaries, and that older people are at higher risk of getting infected. About 10 months into the pandemic, the science shows that the elderly not only remain more vulnerable to infections but are also more likely to develop severe illness. About [80% of deaths in the U.S.](https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/need-extra-precautions/older-adults.html) from COVID-19 have occurred in those 65 or older, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. At this point, Trump, 74, does not appear to share many of the risk factors that make older people more susceptible to infection and severe disease. The highest percentage of deaths among older patients with COVID-19, for example, occur among those with other medical conditions and in shared living facilities, such as nursing homes. The President’s [physical from last summer,](https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/04/politics/donald-trump-physical-health/index.html) however, revealed he had a body mass index that would categorize him as obese — though just barely. That’s one of the CDC’s risk factors for developing severe COVID-19\. Still, health experts have learned that it’s hard to predict how individual people will respond to infection. “It’s not a black and white picture at all,” says Lesley Russell, adjunct associate professor at Menzies Center for Health Policy at the University of Sydney and former health policy advisor to the Obama Administration. “We know this is a very strange disease and all sorts of things happen.” **Read more:** [_What We Still Don’t Know About Trump’s Condition_](https://time.com/5896031/trump-covid-medical-condition-treatment-questions/?utm%5Fsource=roundup&campaign=coronavirus) **_∙_** [_What If Trump’s Condition Worsens?_](https://time.com/5895938/not-on-a-clear-path-to-a-full-recovery-what-happens-if-trumps-condition-worsens/?utm%5Fsource=roundup&campaign=coronavirus) _∙_ [_Mike Pence Steps Into the Spotlight_](https://time.com/5895996/mike-pence-trump-hospitalized/?utm%5Fsource=roundup&campaign=coronavirus) _∙_ [_Physician Briefing Raises More Questions Than Answers_](https://time.com/5895933/trump-coronavirus-doctor-hospitalized/?utm%5Fsource=roundup&campaign=coronavirus) _∙_ [_Trump’s ‘Unprecedented’ COVID-19 Treatment_](https://time.com/5896274/trump-covid-19-treatments/?utm%5Fsource=roundup&campaign=coronavirus)_∙_ [_White House’s Silence Worries Diplomats_](https://time.com/5895857/diplomats-worry-trump-health/?utm%5Fsource=roundup&campaign=coronavirus) _∙_ [_U.S. Adversaries Exploiting Trump’s Illness_](https://time.com/5895614/cascade-of-misinformation-u-s-adversaries-are-exploiting-trumps-illness-and-the-white-house-isnt-helping/?utm%5Fsource=roundup&campaign=coronavirus) _∙_ [_How Trump’s Diagnosis Could Change the Campaign_](https://time.com/5895539/donald-trump-covid-19-presidential-race/?utm%5Fsource=roundup&campaign=coronavirus) _∙_ [_Aides Wonder If More Could Have Been Done to Protect Trump_](https://time.com/5895780/president-donald-trumps-hospitalized-covid/?utm%5Fsource=roundup&campaign=coronavirus) _∙_ [_What to Know About Regeneron_](https://time.com/5895771/trump-regeneron-covid-cocktail/?utm%5Fsource=roundup&campaign=coronavirus) _∙_ [_Where Trump Has Been Since Monday_](https://time.com/5895546/donald-trump-covid-19-timeline/?utm%5Fsource=roundup&campaign=coronavirus) _∙_ [_What History Can Teach Us About Presidential Health Crises_](https://time.com/5896188/trump-presidential-health-history/?utm%5Fsource=roundup&campaign=coronavirus) While advanced age may increase the risk of severe disease, doctors have also learned more in recent months about how to reduce that risk. Increased testing capacity, which [Trump has been criticized for suppressing](https://time.com/5803363/trump-test-coronavirus/) in the early days of the pandemic, is helping to detect cases earlier, which allows doctors to better monitor patients when symptoms worsen. (The President and First Lady were tested when one of his staff members, Hope Hicks, who traveled with Trump to [the presidential debate this week](https://time.com/5894423/presidential-debate-covid-19/), tested positive.) While there are no formally approved antiviral drugs to treat COVID-19, there are experimental medications such as [remdesivir](https://time.com/5840207/coronavirus-treatment-remdesivir/), which the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has authorized on an emergency use basis to treat the disease. The agency has also authorized steroid and other anti-inflammatory medications to help suppress some of the inflammation that is linked to severe disease and can impair people’s ability to breathe on their own. All of these efforts are contributing to lowering death rates among those who are infected, says Dr. Li Yang Hsu, co-director of global health at the National University of Singapore’s Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health. “Hospitals in most countries around the world are no longer overwhelmed the way they were in Wuhan or northern Italy, for instance,” he says. “Especially in high income countries with good health care systems, supportive care can help to prevent deaths.” For now, Trump and the First Lady have begun to self-isolate and can only wait and see if they develop symptoms. The President’s doctor, Sean Conley, said Trump and the First Lady “are both well at this time.” Studies have not shown that starting antiviral or other therapies early in the disease can prevent progression of the disease, but knowledge about treating early infection is still evolving, including when and how to use drugs like remdesivir. “At the point that \[Trump\] is now in the disease process, there is no treatment,” says Russell. Politically, too, the country [now enters wait-and-see mode;](https://time.com/5895414/donald-trump-covid-19-election/) as the President and First Lady’s result adds further chaos to an already turbulent election season. _— With reporting by Laignee Barron/Hong Kong_ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5895439/trump-covid-19-coronavirus-age/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5895439/trump-covid-19-coronavirus-age/"},"headline":"At 74, President Trump Is at Higher Risk of COVID-19 Complications","datePublished":"2020-10-02T11:17:35.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-24T09:16:32.719Z","description":"About 80% of deaths in the U.S. from COVID-19 have occurred in those 65 or older, according to the CDC","url":"https://time.com/5895439/trump-covid-19-coronavirus-age/","keywords":["COVID-19","Explainer","overnight"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt626e07d7fe3c80ee/698a12cbb21a9c260a504157/trump-covid-19-coronavirus-age.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alice Park","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/alice-park/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt626e07d7fe3c80ee/698a12cbb21a9c260a504157/trump-covid-19-coronavirus-age.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Trump COVID-19 Coronavirus Age","caption":"Trump COVID-19 Coronavirus Age","creditText":"Drew Angerer—Getty Images)","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/covid-19/","name":"COVID-19"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5895439/trump-covid-19-coronavirus-age/","name":"At 74, President Trump Is at Higher Risk of COVID-19 Complications"}}]}] ```