That word came the day after a series of conflicting messages from the White House about Trump’s conditions caused widespread confusion about his health.
“The patient continues to improve. He has been fever-free since Friday morning, his vital signs are stable,” Dr. Sean Dooley told reporters at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, where Trump has been receiving treatment since Friday. .
Trump released a four-minute video on Saturday in which he said “real proof” of his condition will come in the next few days.
“Over the next few days, I guess that’s the real test, so we’ll see what happens in the next few days,” Trump told the camera, looking tired and wearing an open-necked jacket and shirt. .
Trump’s illness has upset the campaign ahead of the November presidential election and highlighted the president’s handling of the pandemic. The Republican president is behind his Democratic rival Joe Biden in opinion polls.
A Reuters / Ipsos poll released on Sunday found that Biden had opened a 10-point lead over Trump nationally, slightly wider than it has been for the past two months. About 65% of Americans said Trump likely would not have been infected if he had taken the virus more seriously, a view supported by half of registered Republicans surveyed. About 55% said they did not believe Trump had been telling the truth about the virus.
The Trump campaign promised that Vice President Mike Pence, who would assume the presidency if Trump could not fulfill his duties, would have an “aggressive” campaign program this week, as would Trump’s three oldest children.
“We can’t stay in our basement or shut down the economy indefinitely. We have to face it head-on,” Trump’s senior campaign adviser Jason Miller said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.”
Trump has repeatedly downplayed the threat of the pandemic, even as it has killed more than 208,000 Americans and hit the American economy.
INCORRECT CONDITION
Different assessments of Trump’s health by administration officials on Saturday made it unclear how sick the president had become since testing positive for the coronavirus Thursday night.
A team of White House doctors said Saturday morning that Trump’s condition was improving and that he was already talking about returning to the White House.
Within minutes, White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows gave reporters a less optimistic assessment, saying, “The president’s vital signs over the past 24 hours were very concerning and the next 48 hours will be critical in terms of your care. on a clear path to full recovery. “
Meadows, whose initial comments were provided on the condition that he was not identified, changed his tone hours later, telling Reuters that Trump was “very well” and that “doctors are very satisfied with his vital signs.”
Meadows did not clarify the discrepancy in its comments. A Trump aide who spoke on condition of anonymity said the president was not happy to learn of Meadows’ initial comments.
However, in an interview with Fox News broadcast Saturday night, Meadows revealed that Trump’s condition on Friday was much worse than officials had made public, and said doctors recommended that the president go to the hospital after see that he had a fever and that his blood oxygen level dropped rapidly.
White House physician Sean P. Conley told reporters outside the hospital Saturday that Trump had had no trouble breathing and that Walter Reed was not given oxygen.
He declined to give a timeline for Trump’s possible release from the hospital, then had to issue a statement saying he was wrong after seeming to suggest that Trump had been diagnosed on Wednesday.
In a statement Saturday night, Conley said the president was “not out of the woods yet,” but his team remained cautiously optimistic.
MODIFIED CAMPAIGN
With Trump out of the campaign indefinitely, his campaign announced “Operation MAGA,” based on his slogan “Make America Great Again,” which will see high-profile allies, including Pence and Trump’s eldest sons, Donald Jr. and Eric, take over. -person campaigning this week.
Pence, who tested negative on Friday, will debate on Wednesday with Democratic vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris.
Biden, who largely avoided direct criticism of Trump during a campaign trip to Michigan on Friday, took a more aggressive tone Saturday while speaking to a union of transit workers, even as he wished the president the best.
“I’m in a bit of a bind here, because I don’t want to attack the president and the first lady right now,” Biden said, adding that he hoped Trump and his wife Melania, who also has the disease, will make a full recovery.
But he was quick to address Trump’s response to the pandemic, calling it “inconceivable” and criticizing Trump’s comment in an interview this summer that “it is what it is” when asked about the death toll.
Biden, who tested negative on Friday, told reporters that he would be tested on Sunday next time. His campaign will begin publishing the results of each test, a spokesperson said.
Conley said Trump had received the first two doses of a five-day course of Remdesivir, an intravenous antiviral drug sold by Gilead Sciences Inc that has been shown to shorten hospital stays.
He’s also taking an experimental treatment, Regeneron’s REGN-COV2, as well as zinc, vitamin D, famotidine, melatonin and aspirin, Conley said.
Several other prominent Republicans have also tested positive for coronavirus since Trump’s announcement, including Republican Senators Mike Lee, Thom Tillis and Ron Johnson, former Senior White House Counsel Kellyanne Conway and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.
This story has been published from a news agency feed with no changes to the text. Only the title has been changed.
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