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Press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Trump was receiving the antiviral drug remdesivir after consulting with specialists. The president “did not need supplemental oxygen,” he said in a statement Friday night.
US President Donald Trump speaks during the daily briefing on the new coronavirus, COVID-19, at the White House on March 19, 2020, in Washington, DC. Image: AFP
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump was hospitalized on Friday and received an experimental treatment for COVID-19, but said he was “fine” following news that the Republican had contracted the virus, knocking him out of the election campaign to a month of the American elections.
After not being seen in public since his surprise announcement that he and first lady Melania Trump tested positive for the coronavirus, the president left the White House Friday night, wearing a mask, and flew by helicopter to the Walter Reed military hospital outside. Washington.
In an 18-second video shot inside the White House and posted on Twitter, Trump broke his silence and said he was being hospitalized, but “I think I’m doing very well.”
“We are going to make sure things work out,” he said, adding that the first lady was also “doing very well.”
– Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 2, 2020
Press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Trump was receiving the antiviral drug remdesivir after consulting with specialists. The president “did not need supplemental oxygen,” he said in a statement Friday night.
Earlier, he said that medical experts recommended that Trump work from Walter Reed’s presidential offices “for the next few days.”
The hospitalization indicated an intense effort to ensure that the president’s supposedly “mild” symptoms do not deteriorate.
The development also highlighted the uncharted waters for the November 3 US election, with Trump lagging far behind his Democratic opponent Joe Biden in the polls, having to freeze much of his campaign.
At first, advisers gave optimistic assessments, and Trump’s chief of staff Mark Meadows said the 74-year-old president had only mild symptoms, was in a “good mood” and felt “very energetic.”
Later on Friday, a letter from White House physician Sean Conley indicated something more serious.
Conley said Trump received a single dose of Regeneron’s antibody cocktail, a treatment that is in clinical trials but has yet to be approved by regulators.
“It is being evaluated by a team of experts, and together we will make recommendations to the president and the first lady regarding the next best steps,” Conley wrote.
The president’s son, Donald Trump Jr., told Fox News that his father “was obviously taking it very seriously, but he’s a fighter.”
BIDEN OUT BY YOUR OWN
Trump’s illness turned the race for the White House upside down, and Biden suddenly found himself alone on the campaign trail, and was able to argue that his clearly more cautious approach to COVID-19 had been vindicated.
Biden has made Trump’s frequent downplaying of the pandemic and mixed messages about wearing masks a central theme of the campaign, while Trump has repeatedly tried to shift the narrative to areas where he feels strongest, such as the economy.
The former vice president, who was very close to Trump for 90 minutes during his first moody debate Tuesday in Cleveland, announced that he and his wife Jill tested negative on Friday.
Underscoring his sudden lead in the bitter career, the 77-year-old Biden traveled to Grand Rapids, Michigan, and followed through with a previously scheduled campaign stoppage.
Biden said he was praying for Trump and his family, and his campaign announced that it would remove all negative ads.
However, Biden also reminded voters that he has consistently pushed to take the coronavirus seriously, which has killed more than 208,000 Americans, as opposed to his opponent who has repeatedly mocked the Democrat for his rigorous use of the masks. .
“Be a patriot,” Biden told supporters in Michigan through a blue surgical mask. “It’s not about being a tough guy. It’s about doing your part.”
CAMPAIGN TO GROUND
Trump’s shock diagnosis was a major blow to his re-election effort, prompting a freeze on plans to raze the country in an attempt to catch up on the polls.
The Trump campaign said all planned events involving the president were postponed or going virtual, beginning with the cancellation of a rally in Florida on Friday, a Saturday in Wisconsin and others in western states like Arizona next week.
Even the second Trump-Biden debate, scheduled for October 15, is now in doubt.
Rallies are such a key part of the Trump brand that his sudden inability to travel leaves the campaign struggling to reinvent its strategy. Additionally, Trump has made his argument that the dangers of the coronavirus are exaggerated at a central point on his re-election platform.
CONTACT FOLLOW-UP
News of Trump’s infection came after one of his closest advisers, Hope Hicks, tested positive, sparking fears that a cluster of cases was emanating from the heart of the White House.
Trump met with dozens of people during the week and reportedly went to a fundraiser in New Jersey after it emerged that Hicks had contracted the virus.
The White House said it was conducting contact tracing, while Melania Trump’s spokeswoman said the couple’s 14-year-old son, Barron, had tested negative.
Vice President Mike Pence and other top figures tested negative. The White House said Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett was also negative.
However, former senior White House aide Kellyanne Conway announced Friday night that she had tested positive with “mild” symptoms.
In his 70s and technically obese, Trump is in a higher risk category.
Daniel Griffin, an infectious disease specialist in the New York area, told AFP that Trump had an estimated 20% chance of developing a serious illness that required oxygenation.
As the news shook the world stock markets, leaders such as Angela Merkel of Germany, Boris Johnson of Britain and Vladimir Putin of Russia wished the president and the first lady a speedy recovery.
Trump’s predecessor Barack Obama said the United States is “in the middle of a great political fight” but put aside the bitter electoral battle to extend “best wishes” to the president and the first lady.
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