Trump sicker with COVID than was revealed

donald Trump was much sicker with COVID-19 in October than he and the White House publicly revealed, with low blood oxygen levels and some officials fearing he’d need to be put on a ventilator.

The president and Melania Trump announced they had tested positive for COVID-19 on Oct. 2. Trump was taken to Walter reed National Military Medical Center by helicopter that evening for treatment, but the White House maintained his symptoms were mild.

Four people familiar with Trump’s health at the time now tell The New york Times that his condition was much more serious and that there were fears the Secret Service would be forced to carry him out if he was too ill to walk on his own. Trump’s doctors at Walter reed discovered his lungs had become inflamed with infiltrates, a severe symptom of COVID-19.

He was having trouble breathing during the day before flying to Walter reed in the evening. He was given oxygen twice while still at the White House, along with an experimental drug cocktail developed by biotechnology firm regeneron.

Some officials, The New york Times reported, feared that Trump’s condition was bad enough that he’d need to be placed on a ventilator.

Trump also had a fever and dangerously low blood oxygen levels, which were at one point in the 80s — anything in the low 90s and below is considered severe — according to the people familiar with his condition.

Trump resisted going to Walter reed and didn’t relent until his aides told him that if he didn’t walk out on his own now, he’d get sicker and the Secret Service may need to take him out on a stretcher, the Times reported. When Trump arrived at Walter reed, he was given the steroid dexamethasone, normally prescribed to COVID-19 patients with severe cases.

Trump’s physician, dr. Sean P. Conley said in a news conference at the time that there were “expected findings, but nothing of any major clinical concern,” when asked whether there were any signs of damage to the president’s lungs. responding to criticism a day later, Conley said that by giving statements many considered to be vague and optimistic, he was attempting to “reflect the upbeat attitude” that the president had at the time.

“I didn’t want to give any information that might steer the course of illness in another direction, and in doing so, you know, it came off that we were trying to hide something, which wasn’t necessarily true,” said dr. Conley.

After three days, Trump returned to the White house and posted a video online addressing his supporters.

“you’re going to beat it,” he said of the virus in the video. “As your leader, I had to do that. I knew there’s danger to it, but I had to do it. I stood out front, and led.”

Trump was widely criticized for downplaying the severity of COVID-19.