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On Monday, the White House said it was “optimistic” that Donald Trump could return to the Oval Office after three nights at Walter Reed Military Hospital, where he is being treated for Covid-19. However, much is still unknown about the severity of the president’s condition and the timeline prior to his diagnosis.
Sean Conley, the White House doctor who works with Trump’s team of doctors, held two press conferences over the weekend, but repeatedly gave evasive answers and ended up prompting as many questions as he answered.
When did Trump test positive for the virus and when was the last time he received a negative result?
There is some confusion around when the president received his first positive result or how often he was tested in the run-up to his diagnosis.
Trump said he and his wife Melania had contracted the disease in an announcement made early Friday after testing positive Thursday night. However, Dr. Conley said Saturday that Trump had 72 hours of diagnosis, which would suggest that the president had tested positive on Wednesday.
Subsequently, Dr. Conley issued a statement saying that he had “misused the term ’72 hours’ instead of day three.”
It’s also unclear whether Trump received a positive test result before appearing on a Fox News show Thursday night, when he did not reveal his illness. The Wall Street Journal reported that the president received a positive rapid test result Thursday night after a fundraiser in Bedminster, NJ, but before his appearance on Fox. He received another positive result from a “test of More accurate PCR “later that night.
Sean Conley, the White House doctor, has been forced to correct several of his statements © AFP via Getty Images
Adding to the confusion, the White House has declined to say when Trump last tested negative for the virus. White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany, who announced that she had tested positive on Monday, said Sunday that Trump’s first positive test result was received after the New Jersey fundraiser. But it did not confirm specific hours, nor did it say whether the president was examined Wednesday or Thursday before going to New Jersey.
How serious is Trump’s illness?
It’s unclear how serious Trump’s illness is after a weekend of mixed and contradictory statements from the White House medical team and Trump aides and officials.
Doctors said Sunday that Trump had been suffering from a “high fever” on Friday and that his blood oxygen saturation levels were sometimes “below 94 percent,” resulting in the use of supplemental oxygen. His oxygen levels fell again to 93 percent on Saturday.
When asked if Mr. Trump’s X-rays and CT scans showed any signs of lung damage or pneumonia, Dr. Conley replied that the medical team had seen “some expected findings” but “nothing of any major clinical concern” . He did not elaborate.
On Sunday, the White House medical team said Trump was receiving dexamethasone, an anti-inflammatory steroid. The World Health Organization recommends that the steroid only be given to patients with “severe” Covid-19, while the US National Institutes of Health recommends that it be given to patients who need oxygen or have a fan.
Therefore, the use of dexamethasone would suggest that Trump’s Covid-19 case is more serious than Dr. Conley has indicated, but it is also possible that his medical team has deviated from clinical guidelines.
What did Conley say over the weekend that was wrong or not completely transparent?
Dr. Conley was asked if Trump had received oxygen, which would have been a sign that his condition was more serious than the “mild symptoms” initially described by the White House.
He was repeatedly confused by responses such as, “He’s not on oxygen right now.” On Sunday, however, he acknowledged that Trump’s oxygen levels had dropped twice over three days, and that he had been given oxygen at the White House on Friday morning before being transferred to Walter Reed that same day.
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Dr. Conley also said Saturday that he was wrong to say that Trump had taken an experimental antibody cocktail 48 hours earlier, which would also have suggested that the president tested positive before Thursday. But in another example of confusion, Dr. Conley had not made the original statement, which was provided by another physician. The White House declined to comment.
When pressed Sunday about why he had misled the public on Saturday, Dr. Conley suggested that he did not want to upset Trump. “I didn’t want to give any information that could divert the course of the disease in another direction,” he said. “[It] It came out like we were trying to hide something, which wasn’t necessarily true. “
Who has contracted the virus in Trump’s orbit and are more cases likely to emerge?
Several people in Trump’s orbit have developed coronavirus, including his close associate Hope Hicks, whose diagnosis was reported earlier than Trump’s.
The diagnoses could be tied to an event in the White House’s Rose Garden on Saturday, Sept. 26 to celebrate Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination to the Supreme Court.
Several people in the president’s orbit tested positive
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, shown here removing her mask before briefing reporters on Sunday, is the last person in the president’s orbit to test positive.
Melania Trump, First Lady of the United States
Kayleigh McEnany, White House Press Secretary
Hope hicks, White House Assistant
Bill stepien, Trump campaign manager
Kellyanne conway, former White House aide
Chris Christie, former governor of New Jersey
Thom tillis, Republican Senator from North Carolina
Mike lee, Republican Senator from Utah
Ronna McDaniel, President of the Republican National Committee
Nicolas Luna, assistant to the president
Attendees who have tested positive so far include former White House aide Kellyanne Conway, Republican Senators Thom Tillis and Mike Lee, University of Notre Dame President John Jenkins, and Trump’s campaign manager Bill Stepien. . On Monday, Ms. McEnany announced that she had tested positive.
More infections are also possible, according to Scott Gottlieb, a former commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration.
“We are likely to see more cases emerge, unfortunately, earlier this week, from people who are currently infected and who have infected other people,” Dr. Gottlieb said over the weekend. “This is still a largely evolving situation.”
After the Rose Garden event on Sept. 26, Trump traveled to Cleveland, Ohio, for the presidential debate on Tuesday, and to Minnesota, where he attended a private fundraiser and campaign rally on Wednesday. On Thursday, Trump went to the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, NJ, for another private fundraising event.
