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Medical professionals wonder why the US president should be released from the hospital on Monday. That doesn’t fit well with the previous treatment and would be associated with risks, especially for Trump employees.
President Donald Trump greets supporters who have gathered in front of Walter Reed Military Hospital near Washington.
With a short jaunt from the hospital, US President Donald Trump contributed to the confusion over his health condition and attracted bitter criticism from medical experts. Trump left Walter Reed Military Hospital, which he had visited two days earlier, Sunday night in a limousine convoy, and greeted his followers through the window of his vehicle. What Trump had announced in a video as a “little surprise visit” was apparently intended to curb speculation about a serious illness.
The hospital doctor speaks of “political theater”
However, the action caused widespread head shaking. The American epidemiologist Saad Omer, director of the Institute of Global Health at Yale University, criticized via Twitter that Trump had taken an unnecessary action despite his active corona infection, and this in a closed space with the windows closed with two others people in your vehicle. . Trump wore a normal face mask while driving, but this does not completely prevent the emission of viruses.
This is an individual with an active infection in close proximity to two other individuals, in a vehicle with the windows closed, performing an optional task (masks help, but they are not an impenetrable force field). https://t.co/ktatDxwlDF
– Saad B. Omer (@ SaadOmer3) October 4, 2020
Among the critics was James Phillips, a physician at Walter Reed Hospital and also head of the department of disaster medicine at Georgetown University. Phillips spoke of astonishing irresponsibility and called action madness. Every person inside the presidential limousine now has to be quarantined due to this completely unnecessary departure. “You could get sick. You can die. For political theater “.
The White House defended Trump’s actions saying that the president’s medical team had given the go-ahead for the trip and that adequate protective measures had been taken. The “Washington Post” cited several active and former employees of the Secret Service, the presidential security service, with accusations that the president was putting the health of his aides at risk. Government circles reported that Trump wanted to show strength, especially after his own chief of staff caused a stir over the weekend by saying that the patient’s condition was sometimes very concerning.
During this discussion, Mary Trump, the president’s niece who is embroiled in a bitter family feud with him, also spoke. She said on radio station NPR that Trump, like his father (his grandfather), regards the disease as a “sign of inexcusable weakness.” Therefore, she could not accept her condition.
Concentrated drug loading
Outside medical experts are stumped not just by Sunday’s departure, but also by Trump’s doctors’ announcement that the president could be discharged Monday. There are also good treatment options at the White House. But with Covid-19, complications, especially with an at-risk patient like Trump, cannot be ruled out so soon after infection. The professor of medicine Robert Wachter, quoted by the “Post”, considers it unthinkable to discharge someone who is so ill on the third day that he has had to be treated with remdesivir and dexamethasone.
Remdesivir is an antiviral drug that was developed against diseases like Ebola and has shown some efficacy in shortening the course of Covid-19 disease in studies. Dexamethasone is a corticosteroid that has anti-inflammatory effects and counteracts an overreaction of the immune system. The latter is a common reason for severe Covid-19 courses. Since this drug is generally only used to treat complications, medical professionals have put a question mark on the optimistic official claims about Trump’s condition. The president was also treated with other drugs, including an antibody cocktail that was only partially tested and the gastric acid blocker famotidine, which has been tested in corona patients since spring.
The concentrated use of drugs in a person who is supposedly not seriously ill is very unusual. However, it is likely due to the fact that the presidential medical team does not want to miss out on any available treatment routes for such a high ranking patient. However, the heavy medical artillery being deployed at Walter Reed Military Hospital doesn’t really fit the image that Trump is on the best path. The distrust of official statements in the United States is no coincidence. It is also the result of the medical team making several incorrect statements on Saturday and only answering important evasive questions on Sunday.
Under pressure from the patient and the commander-in-chief?
After Trump’s trip to the hospital, the driver and front passenger should be in quarantine.
In this context, it should be noted that Trump’s personal physician and his staff are military physicians and are part of the military chain of command. It should not be underestimated that they could be pressured by orders from the President and the Commander-in-Chief regarding their information policy. In any case, they would be powerless in the face of Trump’s urgent desire to be released home. The Republican presidential candidate can be trusted to leave the hospital even if it would pose considerable risks to his surroundings in the White House. He has already shown this with his propaganda outing on Sunday and his participation in a meeting with donors on Thursday night, despite fears that the infection has already occurred.
The last known infection in the immediate vicinity of the president concerns Kayleigh McEnany, a press spokesperson for the White House. She had been in repeated contact with the president and other now-sick Republicans in the days leading up to Trump’s hospitalization. It was previously leaked on Sunday that Nick Luna, one of Trump’s personal assistants, had also tested positive for the virus. There was no official confirmation of this because the White House does not systematically report all test results in the vicinity of the president. Even a first positive test from Trump himself was hidden Thursday. According to information from the Wall Street Journal, the president has also instructed an adviser in at least one case to keep quiet about his positive result.
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