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WASHINGTON (AP) – Donald Trump is “very well” in his hospital treatment for Covid-19, his doctors said Saturday, but a source with knowledge of the US president’s condition warned that his vital signs had been worrisome, with the next critical 48 hours.
Trump is mobile, has been fever-free for 24 hours, and his cough, nasal congestion and fatigue are improving, said physician Sean Conley during the first update since the president was admitted to the Walter Reed military medical center near Washington on Friday. .
Trump, 74, is not getting extra oxygen, he added, and “is doing very well.”
A second doctor, Sean Dooley, said the president’s heart, kidney and liver function was “normal.”
But a source familiar with the president’s health, later named in the American media as White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, gave a far more troubling assessment.
“The president’s vital signs during the last 24 hours were very worrying and the next 48 hours will be critical in terms of his care,” he said.
“We are not yet on a clear path to a full recovery.”
The White House has not officially commented and Meadows had asked to speak unofficially before his name appeared as a source in The New York Times and other US outlets.
In an encouraging sign, Trump began tweeting again on Saturday, assuring him that he was “feeling good” and praising the hospital staff.
But Conley was evasive when asked if the president had received supplemental oxygen at any point since he became ill, only confirming that he had not received it at the hospital or on Thursday, the day of his positive test.
Several US media outlets said Trump was taking oxygen at the White House on Friday before being admitted to Walter Reed.
Confusion
Conley added to the confusion by suggesting that Trump had been diagnosed on Wednesday, not Thursday, according to the official account, but later said he was wrong.
Shortly after Trump arrived at the hospital, Conley said in a memo that the president was starting a course in remdesivir and had received an eight-gram dose of an experimental antibody cocktail.
Neither Trump’s doctors nor the White House explained why the president was taking unproven drugs if his progress was satisfactory.
A handful of supporters had been installed outside the hospital since early Saturday morning, one with an American flag, cheered on by the horns of passing cars.
“I heard the night before around two in the morning that (Trump) came with Covid and I saw he was here,” said Richard Potcner, 40, a Maryland resident wearing a cowboy hat in the colors of the flag. from the United States.
“And I felt compelled to come to wish him well and support him.”
Doctors’ optimism about the president’s recovery prospects has been tempered by news that more people close to Trump have tested positive for the coronavirus.
The latest is campaign adviser Chris Christie, who was one of several aides who helped Trump prepare for the first presidential debate and who have since announced positive tests.
Christie and several Trump senators and aides are also among a growing list from the president’s orbit who tested positive for coronavirus after attending an event in the White House Rose Garden last weekend.
The so-called “White House group” includes First Lady Melania Trump, former White House Senior Assistant Kellyanne Conway and President Bill Stepien’s campaign manager, as well as Republican Senators Thom Tillis and Mike Lee.
To intensify the sense of crisis in the heart of power in the United States, a third Republican senator, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, announced Saturday that he had tested positive.
‘False sense of comfort’
Public health experts have voiced alarm over the outbreak linked to a Sept. 26 celebration of Conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination to the Supreme Court.
“They relied too much on diagnostic tests. We know that these tests have a very high false negative rate, ”said Ali Nouri, president of the Federation of American Scientists.
“By simply relying on these diagnostics to determine who can enter and leave the White House, and by not requiring other protections, such as social distancing and masks, they created a false sense of comfort for the White House.”
Trump, who lags far behind his 77-year-old Democratic election rival Joe Biden in the polls, has been forced to freeze or rework much of his campaign ahead of a potentially messy vote on Nov. 3.
Among the unknowns were the prospects for two remaining presidential debates and whether the president will have to temporarily cede power to Vice President Mike Pence if his condition worsens.
Biden has made Trump’s frequent downplaying of the Covid crisis and mixed messages about wearing masks a central theme of the campaign, while Trump has tried to shift the narrative to areas where he feels strongest, like the economy.
The former vice president, who was on stage with Trump for 90 minutes during his first grumpy debate Tuesday, announced that he and his wife Jill tested negative on Friday.
Biden reminded voters during the debate that he has consistently pushed for a serious approach to the coronavirus, which has killed more than 208,000 Americans, as opposed to his opponent who has mocked the Democrat for his rigorous use of masks.
