‘Don’t be afraid of COVID,’ Trump says
WASHINGTON • President Donald Trump walked out the golden front doors of the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Monday and boarded the presidential helicopter to return to the White House after his discharge following treatment for COVID-19.
“Thank you very much,” Trump said to reporters assembled outside the Bethesda, Maryland, hospital. He flashed a thumbs up before entering the presidential limousine for a short ride to the helipad.
Hours earlier Trump told Americans not to be afraid of coronavirus as he announced he would be returning to the White House that evening.
The president delivered the news by tweet, four days after he tested positive for COVID-19 and went by helicopter to hospital.
“I will be leaving the great Walter Reed Medical Center today at 6.30 pm. Feeling really good!” Trump said. “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 remarks followed widespread media reports that Trump had been pushing his doctors to release him from hospital with the election less than a month away and speculation about his health dominating television news.
However, questions were raised about releasing the president from hospital when he was still suffering from the virus and taking a number of experimental treatments.
Monday Kayleigh Mcenany, Trump’s press secretary, and two other press officials became the latest aides to test positive for COVID-19.
Dr. Sean Conley, the president’s physician, and a team of other doctors, took to the steps of the Walter Reed Medical Center to brief the press on the decision to discharge the president moments after Trump tweeted it. They said that the president had been fever- free for 72 hours, was not complaining about shortness of breath and his kidneys and liver were functioning as normal.
Conley said Trump had met “all standard discharge criteria” and insisted the decision was safe and had been signed off by the medical group.
However, he said that Trump would “not entirely be out of the woods” for some time and would have to be monitored carefully until the start of next week. The doctors would also not say when it would be safe for Trump to start campaigning again.
Conley confirmed that the 74- year- old president had been given oxygen on Saturday as well as Friday when his oxygen levels dropped, and said that he remained on dexamethasone, a steroids treatment that is generally advised to be taken by patients with serious cases of the virus.
Trump was expected to take a fourth dose of Remdesivir, an experimental drug, later Monday night and a fifth dose is planned to be administered Tuesday in the White House.
“We’re looking to this weekend,” Conley added. “If we can get through to Monday with him remaining the same or improving, better yet, then we will all take that final deep sigh of relief.”
Conley declined to reveal the details of tests on the president’s lungs. Asked if any signs of pneumonia had been apparent, Conley said he was “not at liberty to discuss” that topic — but did project an upbeat assessment of the state of Trump’s illness, saying: “He’s back.”
Trump intends to participate in the next U. S. presidential debate with Democrat Joe Biden scheduled for Oct. 15 in Miami, campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh said on Monday.
Vice President Mike Pence and Democratic challenger Kamala Harris will be separated by a Plexiglas barrier during their debate on Wednesday, a source familiar with the matter said.
Also Monday, the U. S. Senate Judiciary Committee announced it would open a confirmation hearing for Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Amy Coney Barrett, on Oct. 12.
Republican Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell said the hearing would be in a hybrid format — with some members connecting remotely — because of the coronavirus.
“We are going ahead with the full, thorough and timely confirmation process that Judge Barrett and the court deserve,” Mcconnell said.
Two committee members, Republicans Thom Tillis and Mike Lee, tested positive for COVID-19 in recent days. Both were at the White House on Sept. 26 when Trump introduced Barrett as his nominee to replace Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died last month.
Other attendees at that event — many of whom did not wear protective face coverings — have also tested positive.