Conley answers questions during an update on the condition of US
President Donald Trump, on October 3, 2020, at Walter Reed Medical
Center in Bethesda, Maryland. Brendan SMIALOWSKI /
AFP
US President Donald Trump posted a video
Saturday from the hospital where he is battling Covid-19, saying he
was improving and would be “back soon” — but acknowledged that the
crucial coming days would be “the real test.”
“I came here, wasn’t feeling so well. I feel much better
now,” Trump said from his business suite at the Walter Reed
military medical centre near Washington.
“We’re working hard to get me all the way back… I think I’ll be
back soon and I look forward to finishing up the campaign the way
it was started.”
Appearing relaxed in an open-collar shirt and blue suit
jacket, Trump acknowledged that there was uncertainty
about the course of the disease, which can hit recovering patients
hard with no warning.
“I’m starting to feel good. You don’t know over the next period
of a few days, I guess that’s the real test, so we’ll be seeing
what happens over those next couple of days.”
Late Saturday, White House doctor Sean Conley
said Trump was “not yet out of the woods,” but that the
medical team is “cautiously optimistic.”
White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said Trump’s
condition had them worried on Friday, but that he had since
improved.
“Yesterday morning, we were real concerned… he had a fever and
his blood oxygen level had dropped rapidly,” Meadows told Fox News
late Saturday.
Meadows said there was never a risk Trump would have
to hand over power, after a day of conflicting reports and
confusion over the leader’s actual fitness.
“He’s made unbelievable improvements from yesterday morning,
when I know a number of us, the doctor and I, were very concerned,”
Meadows said.
His comments echoed remarks by Conley, who
said Trump had “made substantial progress since
diagnosis, and remained “fever-free and off supplemental
oxygen.”
Trump, 74, had completed a second dose of therapeutic drug
remdesivir and had spent “most of the afternoon conducting
business,” Conley added.
A second doctor, Sean Dooley, said earlier in the day that the
president’s cardiac, kidney and liver functions were “normal.”
Conley was evasive when asked earlier whether the president had
received supplementary oxygen at any point since falling ill, only
confirming that he hadn’t received any at the hospital or on
Thursday — the day of his positive test.
Several US media outlets said Trump was on oxygen at
the White House on Friday before being admitted to Walter Reed.
‘White House cluster
Conley added to the confusion by suggesting
that Trump had been diagnosed on Wednesday — not on
Thursday, per the official account — but he later said he had
misspoken.
Soon after Trump arrived at the hospital, Conley said
in a memo the president was starting a course of remdesivir and had
received an eight-gram dose of an experimental antibody
cocktail.
Neither Trump’s doctors nor the White House explained why
the president was taking unproven drugs if his progress was
satisfactory.
(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});
Trump’s optimism over his recovery prospects has been tempered
by news that more people close to the president have tested
positive for the coronavirus.
They included campaign advisor Chris Christie, who was among
several aides that helped Trump prepare for the first
presidential debate who have since announced positive tests.
Christie and a number of senators and Trump aides are
also among a growing list from the president’s orbit to have tested
positive after attending an event in the White House Rose Garden
last weekend.
The so-called “White House cluster” includes the president’s
wife Melania, close confidante Hope Hicks, former White House top
aide Kellyanne Conway, campaign manager Bill Stepien and Republican
senators Thom Tillis and Mike Lee.
Another close aide, Nicholas Luna, one of the “body men” who
accompanies the president round the clock, had also tested
positive, CNN reported.
Heightening the sense of crisis at the heart of power in
America, a third Republican senator, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin,
announced on Saturday that he had tested positive.
‘False sense of comfort’
Public health experts have expressed alarm at the outbreak
linked to the September 26 celebration of conservative judge Amy
Coney Barrett’s nomination to the Supreme Court.
“They relied too much on diagnostic testing. We know that these
tests have a very high false-negative rate,” said Ali Nouri,
president of the Federation of American Scientists.
“By simply relying on these diagnostics to determine who gets to
come in and out of the White House, and by not requiring other
protections, like social distancing and masks, they created a false
sense of comfort for the White House.”
Trump — who is well behind his 77-year-old Democratic
election rival Joe Biden in the polls — has been forced to freeze
or rework much of his campaign ahead of a potentially messy vote on
November 3.
Among the unknowns were the prospects for two remaining
presidential debates and whether the president will have to yield
power temporarily to Vice President Mike Pence if his condition
worsens.
Biden has made Trump’s frequent downplaying of the Covid-19
crisis and mixed messaging on mask-wearing a central campaign
theme.
The former vice president, who stood on a stage
with Trump for 90 minutes during their ill-tempered first
debate Tuesday, announced that he and his wife Jill tested negative
Friday.
Biden reminded voters during the debate that he has pushed
consistently for a serious approach to the coronavirus, which has
killed more than 208,000 Americans, unlike his opponent who has
mocked the Democrat for his rigorous use of masks.
Read more https://swordpress.com.ng/2020/10/04/trump-much-better-says-white-house-doctor/