Melania Trump encourages young Americans to keep in touch with isolated grandparents
MELANIA TRUMP has encouraged younger Americans to keep in touch with loved ones who have been isolated due to the coronavirus outbreak.
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It was one of several tweets the First Lady made on Saturday. The one aimed towards children was the first. Mrs Trump wrote: “Many elderly people are unable to receive visitors right now & while this will all be temporary I encourage children to create colourful cards or pictures & show them to their loved ones via FaceTime.
“The thought would mean a lot & bring a smile to many faces!”
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This tweet was accompanied with another retweet from the US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention.
That tweet read: “Don’t put family at risk for #COVID19 by visiting them in person.
“Call grandparents or invite them to a video chat. Keep your loved ones safe by staying connected while physically distant.”
Later, Mrs Trump tweeted again: “On behalf of the entire nation - thank you to all of the front line responders - especially nurses, doctors & volunteers- we thank & salute you for all that you are doing in these trying times. We will get through this as one country united!”
Her final intervention added: “As the #USNSComfort hospital ships off to New York today, we are reminded of the selfless acts of courage our @USNavy medical personnel & crew are doing to ensure all Americans stay healthy & safe as we fight the spread of #COVID19.
“Thank you to everyone in the military for your every day courage!”
The USNS Comfort is a naval hospital.
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It is manned by naval officers from the Medical, Dental, Medical Service, Nurse and Chaplain Corps.
It only carries weapons for self defence.
The ship left Norfolk, Virginia for New York City.
The state of New York has 52,000 coronavirus cases.
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This is around half of the entire caseload in the United States.
Mrs Trump’s husband, President Donald Trump, earlier mooted the idea of quarantining the state.
This brought him into direct conflict with state governor Andrew Cuomo who said: "If you said we were geographically restricted from leaving, that would be a lockdown.
"Then we would be Wuhan, China, and that wouldn't make any sense.
"You would paralyse the financial sector.”
According to South China Morning Post, Trump has concluded for now, the lockdown of the state is unnecessary.
The same applies to New Jersey and Connecticut.
Mr Cuomo claimed he spoke with Trump over the phone, but quarantine measures had not been discussed.
He insisted: "I haven't had those conversations.”