PRESIDENT Donald Trump is reportedly feeling “great” and has gone 24 hours without any coronavirus symptoms, the White House’s top doctor said on Wednesday, October 7, two days after the president was discharged from the hospital.
Dr. Sean Conley, in a memo released by the White House on Wednesday, said that the president’s physical exam and vital signs, as well as his oxygen saturation and respiratory rate, “all remain stable and in normal range.”
“He’s now been fever-free for more than 4 days, symptom-free for over 24 hours, and has not needed nor received any supplemental oxygen since initial hospitalization,” Conley’s statement added.
The memo added that the president’s blood work from Monday showed “detectable levels” of COVID antibodies.
On Monday night, October 5, the president returned to the White House after a three-day stay at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
The 74-year-old president arrived on the White House’s South Lawn after a 10-minute flight on Marine One and made his way up the stairs, where he removed his white surgical mask, and posed for photos before retreating inside.
Before being discharged from the hospital, Trump downplayed the virus that has killed more than 210,000 individuals and infected over 7 million in the United States since March.
“Feeling really good! Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don’t let it dominate your life. We have developed, under the Trump Administration, some really great drugs & knowledge. I feel better than I did 20 years ago!” the president tweeted on Monday.
In another video posted on Twitter, he said: “One thing’s for certain: Don’t let it dominate you.”
“We have the best medical equipment, we have the best medicines, all developed recently,” Trump continued. “I know there’s a risk, there’s a danger, but that’s OK,” Trump added. “And now I’m better, and maybe I’m immune, I don’t know.”
He will continue to be treated for COVID-19 at the White House, though his physician, Navy Cmdr. Sean Conley, said the president “may not entirely be out of the woods yet.”
“While he may not be entirely out of the woods yet, the team and I agree that all our evaluations and, most importantly, his clinical status support the president’s safe return home, where he will be surrounded by world-class medical care 24/7,” Conley said.
Early Friday morning, October 2, Trump revealed on Twitter that he and first lady Melania both tested positive for COVID-19 after it was revealed that close adviser Hope Hicks had contracted the virus. Later that day, the president was transferred to Walter Reed “out of an abundance of caution.”
Since his diagnosis, the president’s team of physicians have given him different treatments, including an 8-gram dose of an experimental antibody therapy cocktail made by biotechnology company Regeneron; a five-day course of antiviral drug remdesivir; corticosteroid drug dexamethasone after his oxygen level dropped on Saturday; and supplemental oxygen.
“And after about a minute on only two liters, his saturation levels were back over 95%. He stayed on that for about an hour maybe, and was off and gone,” Conley said on Saturday, October 3.
On Sunday afternoon, October 4, Trump, wearing a black cloth mask, briefly left his presidential suite aboard a black SUV to wave to supporters who gathered outside the medical center.
Prior to this, the president said he “learned a lot about COVID.”
“I learned it by really going to school. This is the real school, this isn’t the let’s-read-the-book school. And I get it, and I understand it, and it’s a very interesting thing, and I’m going to be letting you know about it,” he said in a video posted on Twitter.
The event was slammed by critics as irresponsible as it put two Secret Service agents with the president at risk.
“That Presidential SUV is not only bulletproof, but hermetically sealed against chemical attack,” Dr. James P. Phillips, an emergency medicine physician affiliated with Walter Reed, wrote on Twitter. “The risk of COVID19 transmission inside is as high as it gets outside of medical procedures. The irresponsibility is astounding. My thoughts are with the Secret Service forced to play.”
Other White House staff who have tested positive for COVID- 19 include senior adviser Stephen Miller, who tested positive on Tuesday; press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, who revealed her diagnosis in a statement on Monday; and Nick Luna, personal attendant to the president. Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and former counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway, who both helped the president with debate preparations, also contracted the virus.
