Trump briefly leaves hospital to greet supporters

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Media signaturePresident Trump visits supporters outside of hospital “surprisingly”

US President Donald Trump has surprised supporters who have gathered in front of the hospital where he is being treated with Covid-19 by driving past in a motorcade.

The president, who was wearing a mask, waved in a car shortly after tweeting that he would make a “surprise visit”.

Mr Trump, who has been criticized for his handling of the pandemic, also said he learned a lot about the virus.

Earlier, his doctors said Mr Trump had continued to improve and could be released as early as Monday.

Dr. Sean Conley said the president’s oxygen levels had dropped twice since his diagnosis and he had started on a steroid called dexamethasone.

The president was given supplemental oxygen at least once after testing positive, said Dr. Conley, who also tried to clear up previous confusion caused by conflicting statements about Mr. Trump’s condition.

In a tweet, the president – dressed in a suit jacket and shirt without a tie – said: “I learned a lot about Covid. I learned it by actually going to school. This is the right school. This is not that, what we read. ” the book school. I understand and I understand. It’s a very interesting thing, I’ll let you know about it. “

The president’s diagnosis, released in a tweet early Friday, changed his campaign. Mr Trump will face Democratic challenger Joe Biden on November 3rd.

What did the doctors say?

Speaking at a press conference at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center near Washington DC, Dr. Conley, Mr Trump’s oxygen levels have dropped twice since he tested positive.

The first episode happened on Friday morning at the White House when the President had a high fever and his oxygen level was below 94% – the value of a healthy person is 95% or higher.

The president was given supplemental oxygen “for about an hour,” the doctor said, and was flown to Walter Reed that evening. The news was already widespread in the U.S. media, and Dr. Conley’s confirmation came after he refused to answer several questions on the matter during Saturday’s briefing.

The second episode happened on Saturday when the level fell below 93%. When asked, Dr. Conley did not ask whether the president had received oxygen but added that “it was very limited” if it had happened.

The team said Dr. Conley, decided to give Mr. Trump dexamethasone, which has been shown in studies to improve survival for hospitalized patients with severe Covid-19.

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Media signatureDr. Sean Conley confirmed that President Trump received supplemental oxygen on Friday morning

Steroids soothe inflammation and the immune system and are already used for conditions such as arthritis and asthma, as well as some serious infections. The drugs are not believed to be helpful in the early stages of coronavirus infection.

“Given the timeline where [Mr Trump] As the disease progresses, we try to maximize everything we can do for him. We have determined that in this case, the potential benefits at the beginning of the course likely outweigh the risks at that point, “said Dr. Conley.

Dr. Conley also addressed a conflicting report on the President’s health given by the White House Chief of Staff shortly after his briefing on Saturday. Mark Meadows said Mr. Trump’s vital signs had been “very worrying” for the past 24 hours and that the next 48 hours would be critical.

“I think his statement was misinterpreted,” said the doctor.

However, he admitted that the day before he had given an overly optimistic description of Mr Trump’s condition: “I did not want to give any information that could steer the course of the disease in any other direction. And that’s when, you know, we tried to hide something that wasn’t necessarily true. “

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Media signaturePresident Trump is seven days before his Covid-positive test

The 74-year-old president, a man and someone classified as obese, belongs to a higher risk category for Covid-19. On Friday, he received an experimental drug cocktail injection and began a five-day antiviral drug course remdesivir.

Dr. Brian Garibaldi, who is also part of the team handling the president, said, “He’s feeling good, he’s been up and down and our plan for today is for him to eat and drink and get up as much as possible to be mobile.”

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Doctors said the president hadn’t had a fever since Friday and that his liver and kidney functions remained normal. Dr. However, Conley refused to answer questions about whether lung scans showed damage.

Not a drug for a “mild” case

How important is it that Donald Trump was given dexamethasone? The steroid saves lives by calming the immune system, which can become dangerously overactive in Covid but must be used at the right time. Give it too soon and the drug could make the situation worse by affecting the body’s ability to fight off the virus.

This is not a drug that you would normally give at the “mild” stage of the disease. The recovery attempt, which took place in the UK, showed the benefit being achieved at the point where people need oxygen – which Mr Trump briefly did. The World Health Organization translated these results to recommend the use of the steroid in “severe and critical” cases.

Mr. Trump’s blood oxygen level fell below 94%, which is one of the National Institutes of Health’s criteria for “major illness”. Those low oxygen levels have not been sustained, however, and the gap between someone in need of temporary oxygen assistance and terminal Covid-19 is massive.

We don’t know all the details of Mr Trump’s condition, but it’s hard to imagine that you or I could be discharged from the hospital while taking dexamethasone and remdesivir and after having experimental antibody therapy. However, medical assistance from the US President is not available to us.

Who else around the president has tested positive?

A number of people around the president have tested positive, including First Lady Melania Trump. Many of them attended a meeting in the White House last weekend that is being considered as a possible “super-spreader event”.

Other people who have tested positive for Mr Trump include close aide Hope Hicks – believed to be the first to show symptoms – campaign manager Bill Stepien and former White House aide Kellyanne Conway.

Nicholas Luna, the youngest person reported to have tested positive, is a personal assistant or “body man” to the President and is in constant contact with Mr. Trump.

What about the political situation?

The president’s campaign team said Saturday it would move “at full speed” until Mr Trump could return to campaign. It calls on the top “surrogate mothers”, including Trump’s sons Donald Jr. and Eric, and Vice President Mike Pence, to “push” the campaign for the time being.

In the meantime, Mr Pence is due to discuss the Democratic Vice-Presidential candidate, Kamala Harris, on Wednesday.

Joe Biden, who has continued his campaign, had no plans for personal events or public appearances. He stopped negative advertising for the president, saying on Saturday the president’s response to the pandemic was “incomprehensible”.

In an interview with CBS ‘Face the Nation, House spokeswoman Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, said Republicans in Congress and the president had been “a long time … anti-science” and she hoped the positive diagnosis from Mr. Trump would change his attitude towards the virus.

“I pray that in addition to his health, the president’s heart will be open to millions of those affected,” she said. “I hope it will be a signal that we really need to do better to prevent this virus from spreading.”

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