When the Marine Corps guards appear outside the West Wing entrance facing Pennsylvania Avenue, it’s a sign that the president is in his office. They arrive whenever he does, to symbolically watch his back.

Since Donald Trump took office, the white double doors have stood unguarded most mornings to account for his late starts.

A pandemic with at least 50,000 coronavirus deaths in the United States and no fewer than 883,800 confirmed cases has not changed that, according to the New York Times.

The president often does not come down from the official residence inside the White House until around noon, after spending the morning watching Fox News, CNN and MSNBC. The Times reports about his "strange new life" while unable to travel or hold his raucous political rallies due to the Covid-19 outbreak, describing his morning calls to aides with the television blaring.

"The president sees few allies no matter which channel he clicks. He is angry even with Fox, an old security blanket, for not portraying him as he would like to be seen," according to the Times.

The newspaper, which Mr Trump regularly calls "fake news" and the "failing New York Times," reports the president's "primary focus, advisers said, is assessing how his performance on the virus is measured in the news media, and the extent to which history will blame him."

Hogan Gidley, a White House spokesman, said his boss's "highest priority is the health and safety of the American people."

White House aides for years have said Mr Trump's morning-long "executive time" in the residence is not limited to cable television news-viewing.