Coronavirus Covid-19: Donald Trump’s doctor dodges questions during the press conference

Donald Trump’s doctor today held his first briefing on the president’s condition, where he answered most, but not all, of journalists’ questions.

The team of doctors treating Trump, led by White House physician Dr. Sean Conley, spoke to the media outside Walter Reed Medical Center.

They painted a sunny picture of the commander-in-chief’s health.

“The president is doing very well,” Conley said.

“At this time, the team and I are extremely happy with the progress the president has made. (On) Thursday he had a mild cough and some nasal congestion and fatigue, all of which are now resolving and improving at this time.

“It is important to note that the president has been fever-free for more than 24 hours. We remain cautiously optimistic, but he is doing very well.

“Another note, it should be clear that you have a lot of work to do and you are doing it.”

Pulmonary intensive care physician Dr. Sean Dooley emphasized that Trump was in “exceptionally good humor.”

“The President is off oxygen this morning; he is not having difficulty breathing or walking through the White House medical unit,” said Dr. Dooley.

“In fact, when we were completing our rounds this morning, the quote he left us was, ‘I feel like I could get out of here today.’ And that was a very encouraging comment from the president. “

But when Conley answered questions from reporters, things got a bit cautious.

The first moment to raise his eyebrows came when journalists tried to determine whether Trump had received supplemental oxygen.

“You are not receiving, have you not received supplemental oxygen?” asked a journalist.

“He is not on oxygen at the moment. That is correct,” Dr. Conley replied.

“Have you not received any?” the reporter pressed.

“You haven’t needed anything, uh, this morning, today at all. That’s right,” Dr. Conley said.

“At the moment, all the indicators are that it will continue without oxygen in the future.”

There was an interlude from that particular interrogation when the press conference turned to other topics, but a couple of minutes later the reporters tried again.

“Can we please (clarify) one thing? Have you ever taken supplemental oxygen?” asked one of them.

“He, right now, is not on oxygen,” Dr. Conley told them.

“I understand, I know you keep saying ‘right now’, but should we read the fact that he had done it earlier?” said the reporter.

“Yesterday and today I was not on oxygen,” Dr. Conley said.

“So you haven’t taken it during your COVID treatment?”

“He’s – he’s not on oxygen right now.”

Another reporter asked Dr. Conley how high the president’s fever had been.

“You said you don’t have a fever now. What was your fever when you did, sir?” they asked.

“I prefer not to give any specific number,” said the White House doctor.

“But he had a fever from Thursday to Friday, and since Friday morning he hasn’t had any.”

When asked if Trump had ever experienced shortness of breath, as a source told CNN White House correspondent Jim Acosta yesterday, Dr. Conley was emphatic.

“No. No, he hasn’t. He never has. He had a bit of a cough, he had a fever. More than anything, he’s felt exhausted,” he said.

He declined to say when the president had last tested negative for the virus (the White House says it runs frequent tests).

And while Dr. Conley acknowledged that the medical team was doing ultrasound and lab work daily to check for lung damage, he declined to “go into detail” about the results.

There was also some confusion about the timing of Trump’s diagnosis and treatment.

Dr. Conley said the president had “72 hours left to diagnose,” which would mean he tested positive for the virus on Wednesday, US time. That test actually happened Thursday night.

And Dr. Brian Garibaldi, a Johns Hopkins pulmonologist, told reporters that Trump had received an experimental coronavirus treatment, a cocktail of polyclonal antibodies, “about 48 hours ago.”

That would have been in the middle of the day on Thursday, US time, hours before Trump’s diagnosis.

Dr. Conley issued a clarification after the briefing, saying that he and Dr. Garibaldi were wrong.

“This morning, while summarizing the President’s health, I incorrectly used the term ’72 hours ‘instead of’ day three ‘and ’48 hours’ instead of ‘day two’ with regard to his diagnosis and administration of therapy with polyclonal antibodies “. Dr. Conley wrote in a statement released to the media.

“The president was first diagnosed with COVID-19 on the night of Thursday, October 1 and received Regeneron’s antibody cocktail on Friday, October 2.”

In the wake of Dr. Conley’s briefing, several American media outlets, including The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Associated Press and ABC News, confirmed that the president did indeed receive oxygen yesterday.

They also directly contradicted Dr. Conley’s insistence that Trump “never” had trouble breathing.

“Two people close to the White House said in separate interviews that the president had trouble breathing on Friday and his oxygen level dropped, prompting his doctors to give him supplemental oxygen while he was in the White House and transferred him to Walter. Reed, where they could be monitored with better equipment and dealt with more quickly in case of problems, “Maggie Haberman reported for The New York Times.

Dr. Conley did not see fit to mention any of this when he spoke to the media.

In addition to his reporting on Twitter, Haberman said the White House doctor “had now compromised his own ability to be believed by the public.”

“It is partly because you are adhering to the wishes of a patient who does not want yesterday’s information released, according to people briefed on what has happened so far,” he said.