Covid-19: Trump’s doctor says US president is no longer at risk of transmitting coronavirus

The White House doctor has said that US President Donald Trump was no longer at risk of transmitting the coronavirus, but did not explicitly say whether Trump had tested negative. The diagnosis came as the president was preparing to resume campaign rallies and other activities.

In a memo released by the White House, Navy Commander Dr. Sean Conley said that Trump met the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention criteria for safely interrupting isolation and that according to “currently recognized standards” was no longer considered a transmission risk.

The memo did not state that Trump had tested negative for the virus. But sensitive laboratory tests, such as the PCR test, detect viruses in swab samples taken from the nose and throat. Dr. William Morice, who oversees laboratories at the Mayo Clinic, said earlier this week that with PCR testing, the president’s medical team could hypothetically measure and track the amount of virus in samples over time. and see the viral load drop.

Some medical experts had been skeptical that Trump could be declared free of the risk of transmitting the virus so early in the course of his illness. Just 10 days after the initial infection diagnosis, there was no way to know for sure that someone was no longer contagious, they said.

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The memo followed Trump’s first public appearance since he returned to the White House after being treated for the coronavirus. Hundreds of people gathered on the South Lawn for a speech by Trump on his support for law enforcement from a White House balcony.

Trump removed a mask moments after stepping out onto the balcony to address the crowd on the lawn below, his first step back onto the public stage with just over three weeks to go on Election Day in the United States.

He scoffed again at his own government’s safety recommendations within days of acknowledging that he was on the brink of the “bad things” from the virus and claiming that his attack on the disease allowed him to better understand it.

His return was brief. With visible bandages on his hands, likely from an IV injection, Trump spoke for 18 minutes, much less than at his normal rallies of more than an hour. He looked healthy, if perhaps a little hoarse, when he delivered what was, for all intents and purposes, a short version of his campaign speech despite the executive mansion setting.

Although advertised as an official event, Trump did not offer political proposals and instead launched the usual attacks on Democrat Joe Biden while praising law enforcement before a crowd of several hundred, most of whom wore masks and few they adhered to social distancing guidelines.

“I feel great,” said Trump, who said he was grateful for her good wishes and prayers as he recovered. He then declared that the pandemic, which has killed more than 210,000 Americans, was “disappearing” even though he is still recovering from the virus.

In an act of defiance or simply to tempt fate, officials organized the crowd just steps from the Rose Garden, where exactly two weeks ago the President held another grand gathering to formally announce his nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Court. Supreme of the United States. That event is now seen as a potential Covid-19 super-spreader, as more than two dozen people in attendance contracted the virus.

Trump had hoped to hold campaign rallies this weekend, but settled for the White House event. But while his health remained unclear, he planned to augment his travels with a rally in Florida, followed by trips to Pennsylvania and Iowa in the following days. It was unclear whether Trump posed a risk to those he would fly with on Air Force One or meet at the staging sites.

Before the speech, White House officials said they had no information to release whether the president was tested for Covid-19, meaning he made his first public appearance without the White House verifying that he is no longer contagious.

Security around the White House was tightened before the event, which was called a “peaceful protest for law and order” and was attended by predominantly Black and Latino supporters.

Police and the Secret Service closed the surrounding streets to vehicles and closed Lafayette Square, the park near the White House that has long been a gathering place for public protests.

As questions about his health persist, and Democratic opponent Joe Biden steps up his own campaign, Trump has called more often on radio and television shows to speak to conservative interviewers, hoping to make up for lost time with just over three. weeks until Election Day and millions are already voting.

Biden’s campaign said it again tested negative for Covid-19. Biden was potentially exposed to the coronavirus during his Sept. 29 debate with Trump, who announced his positive diagnosis just 48 hours after the debate.

The president has not been seen in public, except in videos produced by the White House since his return days ago from the military hospital where he received experimental treatments for the coronavirus.

Most of the crowd that gathered for his speech on supporting law enforcement wore masks, but there was little social distancing.

Trump’s next event in Sanford, Florida, what he described as a “BIG RALLY,” was originally scheduled for October 2, the day after he tested positive. Before his event Saturday, Trump took to Twitter to share news articles about problems. with mail-in ballots in New Jersey, Ohio and Texas. Trump has repeatedly made unsubstantiated claims that universal vote-by-mail is plagued by widespread fraud.

Trump’s return to public activity came when Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert, warned the White House again to avoid large-scale gatherings of people without masks.

He said about the Barrett event in an interview with The Associated Press, “I wasn’t surprised to see a super spread event under the circumstances.” That means “an environment full of people, congregated, without masks. It is not surprising to see an outbreak,” he said.

The District of Columbia virus restrictions prohibit outdoor gatherings of more than 50 people, although that rule has not been strictly enforced. Masks are required outdoors for most people, but the regulations don’t apply on federal land, and the Trump White House has openly circumvented them for months.

Confined to the White House while recovering, Trump spent much of the last few days touring friendly conservative media, calling Fox News host Sean Hannity and spending two hours live with radio host Rush Limbaugh on what his campaign billed as a “radio rally”.

Trump directly appealed to his loyalist base of supporters, whom he needs to go to the polls en masse, in court over his battle for re-election, his fight against the coronavirus and resuming negotiations with Democrats to pass a bill. economic stimulus.

In an interview on Fox’s Tucker Carlson show, Trump was asked if he had been retested for Covid-19. “I have been retested and I still haven’t figured out the numbers or anything. But they tested me again and I know I’m at the bottom of the scale or free, “he said.

White House officials, however, have declined to answer when Trump last tested negative for the virus or release detailed information about lung scans taken while Trump was hospitalized.

The president’s aides insist Trump is safe to return to his normal activities, including campaigning. Guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention require that those infected wait at least 10 days after the onset of symptoms, Fauci said in the Associated Press interview. That start for Trump was October 1, according to his doctors.

The White House president’s physician, Navy Commander Sean Conley, added that Trump showed no evidence of his disease progressing or adverse reactions to the aggressive course of therapy he received.

While reports of reinfection in Covid-19 victims are rare, the CDC recommends that even people recovering from the disease continue to wear masks, stay away, and follow other precautions. It was unclear whether Trump, who has refused to wear masks in most settings, would abide by that guidance when he resumes his campaign.