LAST UPDATE | 3 Oct 2020
DONALD TRUMP’S DOCTOR has said that the US President is doing “very well” following his diagnosis with Covid-19.
Dr Sean Conley said that “at this time, the team and I are extremely happy with the progress the president has made”.
There had been some confusion about when Trump was diagnosed with the virus, after Conley said that Trump was diagnosed 72 hours ago. Trump only confirmed that he had contracted the virus 36 hours ago.
Following the briefing, White House officials said that Conley meant to say it was ‘Day 3′ since Trump had tested positive.
Conley said that Trump has been fever free for over 24 hours, with 96% oxygen saturation. He said Trump had had a mild cough with some nasal congestion and fatigue, but that was all now resolved or improving.
Doctors said Trump is in “good spirits”.
“I feel like I could walk out of here today,” the president told doctors earlier, reporters were told.
Conley was asked a number of times if the president had received oxygen during his treatment. He repeated that Trump hadn’t received oxygen “today” several times, but later said he hadn’t been on oxygen yesterday or Thursday either.
“We have monitored his cardiac function, his kidney function, liver function. All of those are normal,” said Conley.
“And the president this morning is not on oxygen, not having difficulty breathing or walking around the White House medical unit upstairs.”
Conley was asked why the president was taken to hospital if he wasn’t serious ill. He said it was because Trump is “the president of the United States”.
However, a person familiar with Trump’s condition told the Associated Press that he was given oxygen at the White House. The person said the president’s condition had been “very concerning” but Trump has been improving since going to hospital.
The person described the next 48 hours as critical and said there was no clear path yet on a recovery and that it could be days before he was discharged.
Trump is spending the weekend at a military hospital for treatment of Covid-19, as new cases emerged among some of the US president’s top advisers and allies.
Attention focused in particular on last Saturday’s White House event introducing Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, with several attendees announcing they had tested positive for the virus.
Doctors, Nurses and ALL at the GREAT Walter Reed Medical Center, and others from likewise incredible institutions who have joined them, are AMAZING!!!Tremendous progress has been made over the last 6 months in fighting this PLAGUE. With their help, I am feeling well!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 3, 2020
Among them are former White House counsellor Kellyanne Conway, the president of the University of Notre Dame, and at least two Republican legislators – Utah Senator Mike Lee and North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis.
Though the ceremony announcing Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination was held outdoors, attendees sat closely together and few wore masks.
Some also mingled at a smaller event inside the White House.
The White House said Trump’s expected stay of “a few days” at Walter Reed National Military Medical Centre was precautionary and he would continue to work from the hospital’s presidential suite, which is equipped to allow him to keep up his official duties.
The White House physician said he was being treated with remdesivir, an antiviral medication, after taking another experimental drug at the White House.
Late on Friday, Conley issued an update that said Trump is “doing very well” and is “not requiring any supplemental oxygen”.
The decision for the president to leave the White House for the hospital capped a day of drama in Washington on Friday.
The president, who has spent months playing down the threat of the virus, was forced to cancel all campaign events a month before the election as he fought a virus that has killed more than 205,000 Americans and is hitting others in his orbit as well.
Trump walked out of the White House yesterday evening wearing a mask and gave a thumbs-up to reporters but did not speak before boarding Marine One.
Members of the aircrew, Secret Service agents and White House staff wore face coverings to protect themselves from the president onboard the helicopter.
In a video taped before leaving for Walter Reed, Trump said: “I think I’m doing very well, but we’re going to make sure that things work out.”
“Going well, I think! Thank you to all. LOVE!!!” he wrote in his first tweet from the hospital on Friday night.
Trump first revealed that he had tested positive in a tweet at about 1am on Friday – hours after he returned from a Thursday afternoon political fundraiser.
He had gone ahead to the event, saying nothing to the crowd though knowing he had been exposed to an aide with the disease that has infected millions in America and killed more than one million people worldwide.
First Lady Melania Trump also tested positive and has said she has mild symptoms.
She is believed to be isolating at the White House.
Also testing positive were Trump’s campaign manager, Bill Stepien, who has “mild flu-like symptoms”.
Today, Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin became the third Senate Republican to publicly confirm testing positive in the current spate of infections, although Johnson was not at last week’s Rose Garden event.
His immediate campaign events were all cancelled, and his next debate with Democrat Joe Biden, scheduled for 15 October, is now in question.
Trump has been trying all year – and as recently as Wednesday – to convince the American public that the worst of the pandemic is past, and he has consistently played down concerns about being personally vulnerable.
With reporting from Dominic McGrath, Sean Murray
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