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WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump and his doctors took an optimistic tone over the weekend, though it was clouded by seemingly conflicting signals about his condition, and Trump even made a surprise outing to greet supporters outside the hospital where he is being treated. by Covid-19. .
Trump’s medical team was still optimistic that he could return to the White House on Monday (October 5) and would make the decision later that day, his chief of staff, Mark Meadows, told Fox News.
Mr. Meadows added that the president’s condition had improved overnight and he was ready to return to his normal work schedule.
Markets opened higher on his comments, with both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq Composite rising 0.8% and the S&P 500 rising 0.7%.
First lady Melania Trump said on Twitter Monday that she will continue to rest at home.
But observers were concerned by the announcement by White House physician Sean Conley at a press conference Sunday that the president had been administered oxygen after two episodes of transient drops in oxygen saturation, something that Dr. Conley had not mentioned the day before even though he was asked directly.
Medical experts were also concerned by news from Dr. Conley that Trump was being treated with dexamethasone, a steroid intended for critically ill patients, noting that its possible side effects include mood swings.
They were not reassured by Trump’s series of Twitter posts Monday morning, a series of 18 tweets before 8 a.m. urging people to vote for him and his platform. In one example, he said: “FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPT FALSE NEWS MEDIA. VOTE!”
But the activity was in line with Trump’s push throughout the weekend to project a show of force, culminating in an evening outing to greet supporters outside the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
“We have an enthusiasm like no one has probably ever had,” Trump said in a video message on Twitter, hours after the release of a Reuters-Ipsos poll that showed Biden’s lead over him had widened. “We are more enthusiastic than anyone.”
He also tried to show that he was taking the coronavirus situation seriously and handling the situation, saying, “I learned a lot about Covid, I learned it by actually going to school. This is the real school. This is not the school where we are going to read the books. I understand it and I understand it. “
Wearing a face mask and suit jacket, the president was traveling in an armored van, greeting cheering supporters displaying U.S. and Trump campaign flags outside the hospital grounds.
But the departure, at odds with the advice of medical experts that Covid-19 positive patients remain isolated, was criticized for being irresponsible and endangering his driver and members of the Secret Service who were traveling with him in the small airtight space.
Dr. James Phillips, treating physician at Walter Reed Medical Center, said that because the presidential vehicle was sealed against chemical attack, “the risk of transmission of Covid-19 indoors is as high as outside of medical procedures.” .
“Every person in the vehicle during that completely unnecessary presidential ‘step ahead’ now has to be quarantined for 14 days. They can get sick. They may die. For political theater. Sent by Trump to put their lives at risk for the theater. This is insane, ”Dr. Phillips, George Washington University’s chief of disaster medicine, wrote on Twitter.
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