[ad_1]
On Friday Donald Trump announced on his personal page on the social network Twitter that, like the first lady, Melania, he had tested positive for coronavirus and would be in quarantine. Hours later, he was admitted as a precautionary measure to the Walter Reed Military Hospital.
Today, the American president has left hospital facilities to return to the White House, but there are more questions than he is sure about his health.
This is what is known:
Date of contagion;
Unknown.
Date of the first positive test:
Thursday, October 1, according to spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany. The White House declined to say when the last negative test was.
Hospitalization date:
Friday, October 2 at 6:30 p.m. local time (11:30 p.m. from Lisbon).
Symptoms:
Trump initially had a “high fever”, fatigue, cough and a stuffy nose, but did not run out of air, according to his doctor Sean Conley. The last feverish state would have been Friday.
The oxygen saturation rate in the blood has been reduced twice to levels that indicate possible lung disease. On Friday the rate was 94% and on Saturday 93%, which is lower than the normal 95%.
Trump received oxygen at the White House on Friday and perhaps Saturday, with his doctor evasive about the second episode, saying he didn’t need support from fans.
Since Friday’s warning, Trump has been seen in video messages with no apparent signs of fatigue and briefly got out in a car Sunday to greet supporters gathered outside the hospital.
Over the weekend, the president of the United States spoke with several people on the phone. “His health continues to improve,” said his chief of staff, Mark Meadows, who indicated that Trump had “made incredible progress” and was thus able to return to the White House.
Lightweight:
Conley did not describe the condition of his patient’s lungs or the results of the images. She simply said, “We made the expected observations, but nothing of clinical importance.”
When asked if Trump has pneumonia, the doctor replied, “We can’t talk about it.”
Deals:
At the White House itself, the US president received a heavy dose (8 grams) of an experimental treatment from the biotech company Regeneron on Friday.
This treatment is based on two antibodies produced in the laboratory to neutralize the coronavirus. The clinical results of the trials are promising, but their administration is restricted to these tests, albeit with some exceptions, such as Trump’s.
Trump was also treated with remdesivir for five days. This antiviral was the first to receive an emergency authorization against Covid-19. It is injected intravenously once a day and tries to prevent the virus from replicating. It is currently recommended for patients who need oxygen.
Since Saturday, Trump has also been receiving dexamethasone; a corticosteroid for severe cases that has been shown to reduce mortality. This remedy from the steroid family fights inflammation that can seriously compromise the lungs and other vital organs.
All three treatments are used at different stages of infection, creating confusion about the president’s current status.
Several experts wonder if Trump is sicker than his doctors reveal, or if excessive precautions have been taken due to the importance of the patient, despite the risks of side effects of the treatments.
Trump is also receiving other drugs and supplements; including zinc, vitamin D, famotidine (which can be used against heartburn), melatonin (usually prescribed for insomnia) and aspirin, Conley said Friday.
Several doctors were surprised by the number of treatments: “It is the example of the VIP syndrome, in which the patient receives an irrational treatment, without evidence, and is overtreated,” said the director of the Scripps Translational Research Institute, Eric. Topol. Sean Conley himself had already spoken of “uncharted territory.”
For others, it’s reasonable that in a pandemic, doctors make decisions based on incomplete data, said Gregory Poland, a professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic. “As every good doctor knows, medicine is a science and an art,” he defended.
