Covid 19 coronavirus: Donald Trump’s virus danger period is still ahead of him

ANALYSIS

Four days.

That’s how long it has been since Donald Trump tested positive for the coronavirus and began suffering from symptoms, according to the timeline that the White House and his doctors have provided.

Typically, the most dangerous period for a coronavirus patient is 7-10 days after the onset of symptoms. This is when the most serious cases can suddenly get worse.

I’m not getting that figure off my butt. The 7-10 day window has been constantly mentioned by medical experts, including the president’s own physician, Dr. Sean Conley.

“In particular, days 7-10 are the most critical in determining the likely course of this disease,” Conley said the first time he briefed the media on Trump’s condition on Saturday.

“He’s doing very well, but with a known course of the disease, on days 7-10 we are very concerned about the inflammatory phase.”

Today, even as he endorsed Trump’s decision to leave Walter Reed Medical Center and return to the White House, Conley still recognized that period of danger.

“You said that between 7 and 10 days was a window that worried you. I don’t think we’re there yet,” a journalist reminded him.

“Are you concerned about a possible worsening or reversal? What are your plans to address that, should it happen?”

“You’re absolutely right,” Conley said.

“This is why we all remain cautiously optimistic and on guard, because we are in uncharted territory when it comes to a patient who received the therapies that the president received so early in the course.

“We are looking ahead to this weekend. If we can get to Monday with him staying the same or improving, then we will take that last sigh of relief.”

“He may not be completely out of the woods yet.”

Maybe the president is fine. Perhaps last Friday morning, when his blood oxygen levels dropped and he was taken to the hospital, it will end up being the most dangerous time he faces from the infection.

The point here is that we just don’t know yet. And in the estimation of Trump’s own doctor, we won’t know until Monday.

So why does Donald Trump act like he’s already beaten the virus?

In his upbeat video message to Americans today, filmed on the Truman Balcony of the White House, Trump said he was “better” now, reflected that he might be “immune” and told his constituents not to allow fear of the virus. “dominate” its citizens. lives.

“Do not let it dominate you. Do not be afraid. You will overcome it. We have the best medical equipment, we have the best medicines, all recently developed. And you will overcome it,” said the president.

“I went, I didn’t feel so good. And two days ago, I could have left two days ago. Two days ago I felt really good, better than I had in a long time. Like I said recently, better than 20 years ago.

“Don’t let it dominate. Don’t let it take over your lives. Don’t let that happen. We have the best country in the world. We go back, we go back to work. You’re going to be in charge.

“As their leader, I had to do that. I knew there was danger, but I had to do it. I stayed ahead, I led. No one who is a leader would not do what I did. And I know there is a risk, there is danger, but there is good.

“But now I’m better, and maybe I’m immune. But don’t let that rule your lives. Come out, be careful. We have the best medicines in the world.”

“The vaccines will arrive momentarily. Thank you very much.”

The president of the United States also released a bombastic, campaign-style video of triumphant footage from Walter Reed’s brief trip to the White House. And he promised to return to the campaign “soon.”

The optimistic tone was shared by Trump supporters.

I was particularly surprised by Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler, for example, who posted a Photoshopped version of Trump’s famous appearance at WrestleMania, showing him literally beating the virus.

“Covid had NO chance against Donald Trump!” Loeffler said.

Outstanding? Past?

We’ve been with an infection for four days that is known to have receded in some patients, only to quickly become severe a few days later. Trump is still sick and his fight against the virus continues.

“It is now well established that a patient’s well-being can change suddenly around 7 to 10 days after the first symptoms appear, even when they feel better in the meantime,” Professor Daniel Davis, an immunology expert from the United States, told Newsweek today. the University of Manchester. .

University of East Anglia professor Paul Hunter told the magazine that “you can’t give the go-ahead for at least a couple of weeks.”

“The times that concern us most with a Covid patient are days 7 to 10. Why are they being discharged now when the most worrying time is yet to come?” Dr. Leana Wen, visiting professor at George Washington University, wondered about PBS.

“What happens is that a person can become much more stable for a while, and then they have this dysregulation of their immune system. Their immune system ramps up,” Dr. Eric Topol, a cardiologist, told CNN.

“(It’s) especially more common in older people. So it’s not out of the woods in any way.”

There is no shortage of quotes like this from experts who are concerned that the president may be claiming victory over the virus prematurely.

There is also no shortage of patients in this pandemic who mistakenly thought they were past the worst of the infection.

In the United States, the most prominent example is businessman and former Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain, who tragically died in July.

Cain tested positive for the virus on July 2. Throughout the month, the team managing his social media accounts provided increasingly positive updates on his condition.

“Progress is slow but your breathing is getting stronger every day. Make no mistake about it, it’s getting better!” they said on July 10.

On July 15, they said the doctors “like the progress he’s making.”

“It’s really getting better, which means it’s working,” they said on July 27.

On July 30 he was dead.

Across the Atlantic Ocean, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson appeared to be suffering from a relatively mild case of the virus for about a week. Then, nine days after testing positive, he suddenly went to the hospital.

Johnson’s condition rapidly deteriorated and, according to the man himself, the situation became so bleak that his doctors began to consider how they would announce his death.

“It was hard to believe that in just a few days my health had deteriorated to such an extent,” he told The Sun in May.

“The bad moment came when it was 50/50 if they were going to have to put a tube in my windpipe.

“They were starting to think about how to handle it, presentationally.”

Obviously, Trump has access to unparalleled healthcare, and after his troubling episode on Friday, his doctors threw the proverbial kitchen sink at him.

She has received supplemental oxygen, zinc, vitamin D, the heartburn drug famotidine, the sleeping pill melatonin, aspirin, the antiviral drug remdesivir, a steroid called dexamethasone, and an experimental antibody cocktail that is still in the clinical trial phase.

There are still some things his doctors won’t reveal, like whether or not there is evidence of pneumonia or inflammation in the president’s lungs, or when was the date of his most recent negative coronavirus test.

The latter could help us get a more accurate estimate of when, exactly, Trump became infected, and thus where he really is in relation to the 7-10 day danger period. But Conley doesn’t move. Refuses to share the information.

When he spoke to reporters today, the White House doctor tried to assure Americans that Trump would continue to be well cared for in the White House.

“He is returning to one facility, the White House medical unit, which is staffed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Top-notch doctors, nurses and logistics specialists,” he said.

“Right now there is nothing being done up here that we cannot safely do at home.”

So even if Trump is getting complacent, his doctors are not.