[ad_1]
The doctor to the president of the United States, Donald Trump, has painted an optimistic picture of the health of the president while he remains hospitalized for treatment for coronavirus. But that assessment was immediately contradicted by a person familiar with Trump’s condition, who said the situation had been very concerning.
Even the sunniest briefing from Navy commander Dr. Sean Conley and other physicians at Walter Reed Medical Center raised more questions than it answered, including whether the president ever required supplemental oxygen and exactly when he became ill. .
According to a person familiar with Trump’s condition, some of Trump’s vital signs over the past 24 hours were “very concerning.” The person, who was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity, said the next 48 hours will be critical in terms of her attention.
Conley had said that Trump has been fever-free for 24 hours while updating the nation on Walter Reed’s president’s condition on Saturday afternoon (local time). Trump was admitted Friday after testing positive for the coronavirus and has been in treatment.
READ MORE:
* Covid-19: Trump flew to hospital after coronavirus diagnosis, being treated with remdesivir
* Covid-19: what we know and what we don’t know about Trump’s coronavirus
* Covid-19: Arrogant approach to coronavirus reaches US President Donald Trump
* Covid-19: Kellyanne Conway, a former close aide to Trump, tests positive for coronavirus
While Conley said the president is not currently on oxygen, he declined to say whether the president has ever taken oxygen, despite repeated questioning.
“Thursday without oxygen. None at this time. And yesterday with the team, while we were all here, he was not on oxygen, “he said. He said Trump’s symptoms, including coughing and nasal congestion, “are now resolving and improving.”
“He’s in a really good mood,” said another doctor, Sean Dooley.
The administration has been consistently less than transparent about the president’s health as the virus spreads within the White House. The aides had refused to share basic information about the president’s health, including a full description of his symptoms, the tests that were performed and the results. The first word that a close associate of Trump had been infected came from the media, not the White House.
Alex Brandon / AP
The president of the United States, Donald Trump, was taken to the hospital after being diagnosed with Covid-19.
In a memo posted shortly before midnight, Conley reported that Trump had been treated in hospital with remdesivir, an antiviral drug, after taking another experimental drug at the White House. He added that Trump “is doing very well” and “does not need supplemental oxygen.”
The White House said Trump was expected to stay in the hospital for “a few days” as a precaution and that he would continue to work from the hospital’s presidential suite, which is equipped to allow him to fulfill his official duties. In addition to accessibility to tests and equipment, the decision was made, at least in part, on the understanding that moving it later, if it got worse, could send a worrying signal.
As the White House works to rebuild the wave of new infections, the spotlight is in particular on last Saturday’s White House event in which Trump’s candidate for the Supreme Court was introduced.
That day, Trump gathered more than 150 people at the Rose Garden. People mingled, hugged, and shook hands, overwhelmingly without masks. There were also several indoor receptions, where Trump-chosen Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett, his family, senators and others gathered in the vicinity of the White House, photos show.
Alex Brandon / AP
Trump boards Marine One as he leaves the White House to go to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
Among those who attended and now tested positive: Former White House Counselor Kellyanne Conway, the President of the University of Notre Dame, and at least two Republican lawmakers: Utah Sen. Mike Lee and North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis.
The president’s decision to leave the White House to go to the hospital culminated a day of violent events in Washington on Friday. The president, who has spent months downplaying the virus threat, was forced to cancel all campaign events a month before the election as he battled a virus that has killed more than 205,000 Americans and is also affecting others in his orbit.
Trump left the White House Friday night wearing a mask and gave reporters a thumbs up, but did not speak before boarding Marine One. Crew members, Secret Service agents, and White House personnel they covered their faces to protect themselves from the president aboard the helicopter.
In a video recorded before leaving for Walter Reed, Trump said: “I think I’m doing very well, but we are going to make sure things work out.” He remained fully president, all authority intact.
I’m doing fine, I think! Thank you all. LOVE !!! “she wrote in her first tweet from the hospital on Friday night.
Trump first revealed that he had tested positive in a tweet just before 1 a.m. Friday, hours after returning from a political fundraiser Thursday afternoon in New Jersey. He had run ahead of the event, saying nothing to the crowd, even though he knew he had been exposed to an attendee with the disease that has infected millions in America and killed more than 1 million people worldwide. .
First lady Melania Trump also tested positive and said she has mild symptoms. It is believed to be isolated in the White House.
They also tested positive: Trump’s campaign manager Bill Stepien, who joined Trump in Tuesday’s first presidential debate, as well as former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who helped him prepare for the debate. On Saturday, Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin became the third Senate Republican to publicly confirm a positive result in the current string of infections, although Johnson was not at last week’s Rose Garden event.
Trump’s diagnosis came during an already turbulent period in Washington and around the world, with the United States caught in a heated presidential election and the pandemic taking a heavy human and economic toll. All of Trump’s immediate campaign events were canceled, and his next debate with Democrat Joe Biden, scheduled for Oct. 15, is now in doubt.
Andrew Harnik / AP
The upcoming debate between Trump and Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden is in doubt.
Trump has tried all year, and as recently as Wednesday, to convince the American public that the worst of the pandemic is over, and he has always downplayed concerns about being personally vulnerable. For the most part, he has refused to adhere to basic public health guidelines, including those issued by his own administration, such as wearing face coverings in public and practicing social distancing. Until he tested positive, he continued to hold campaign rallies that drew thousands of supporters, often without a mask.
“I didn’t feel any vulnerability,” he told reporters in May. With elections looming in a month, he is urging states and cities to “reopen” and reduce or eliminate closure rules despite continued virus outbreaks.
The White House tried to maintain a business atmosphere as usual on Friday.
“President Trump is in a good mood, has mild symptoms and has been working all day,” said press secretary Kayleigh McEnany. “As a precaution and on the recommendation of his physician and medical experts, the president will work from the presidential offices in Walter Reed for the next few days.”
Trump received a dose of an experimental antibody combination from Regeneron that is in clinical trials, according to Conley, as well as therapy with remdesivir, the antiviral drug.
Melina Mara / The Washington Post
Eric and Ivanka Trump without masks in the first presidential debate.
“You have completed your first dose and are resting comfortably,” Conley wrote in his memo on Friday.
The first lady, who is 50, has a “mild cough and headache,” Conley reported, and the rest of the first family, including the Trumps’ son Barron, who lives in the White House, tested negative.
Trump is 74 years old and clinically obese, putting him at higher risk for serious complications from a virus that has infected more than 7 million people across the country.
Both Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris tested negative, according to their campaign. Vice President Mike Pence tested negative for the virus on Friday morning and “remains in good health,” his spokesman said. Pence would resume his campaign program after his test.
Barrett, who was with Trump and many others on Saturday and has been in a Capitol meeting with lawmakers, also tested negative, the White House said. It was confirmed that he had a mild case of Covid earlier this year and has now recovered.
Many senior White House and administration officials were undergoing tests, but the full scale of the outbreak around the president may not be known for some time, as it can take days for an infection to be detectable by a proof. Officials from the White House Medical Unit were tracking the president’s contacts.
Trump’s handling of the pandemic has already been a high point in his career against Biden, who spent much of the summer off campaign and at his home in Delaware, citing concern about the virus. Since then, Biden has resumed a more active campaign program, but with small and socially distant crowds. He also regularly wears a mask in public, something Trump mocked him for in Tuesday night’s debate.
“I don’t wear masks like him,” Trump said. “Every time you see him, he has a mask on. He could be talking 200 feet away from me and he shows up wearing the largest mask I’ve ever seen.” “
