Trump hospitalised for Covid treatment, campaign grounded
WASHINGTON, Oct 3 (AFP) - President Donald Trump was hospitalised Friday and given an experimental Covid-19 treatment, but said he was “well,” following bombshell news that the Republican had contracted the virus, knocking him off the campaign trail a month from the US election.
After having not been seen in public since his shock announcement that he and first lady Melania Trump tested positive for the coronavirus, the president walked out of the White House Friday evening, wearing a mask, and flew by helicopter to the Walter Reed military hospital outside Washington.
In an 18-second video recorded inside the White House and released on Twitter, Trump broke his silence, saying he was being hospitalised but “I think I'm doing very well.” “We're going to make sure that things work out,” he said, adding that the first lady was also “doing very well.” Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Trump was receiving the anti-viral drug remdesivir following consultation with specialists. The president was “not requiring any supplemental oxygen,” she said in a statement late Friday.
Earlier, she said that medical experts recommended Trump work from the presidential offices at Walter Reed “for the next few days.” The hospitalisation indicated an intense effort to make sure the president's reportedly “mild” symptoms do not deteriorate.
The development also highlighted the uncharted waters for the US election on November 3, with Trump -- who is well behind his Democratic opponent Joe Biden in the polls -- having to freeze much of his campaign.
At first, aides gave rosy assessments, with Trump's chief of staff Mark Meadows saying the president, 74, had only mild symptoms, was in “good spirits” and feeling “very energetic.” Later Friday, a letter issued by White House physician Sean Conley indicated something more serious.
Conley said Trump received a single dose of Regeneron's antibody cocktail, a treatment undergoing clinical trials but not yet approved by regulators.
“He's being evaluated by a team of experts, and together we'll be making recommendations to the President and First Lady in regards to next best steps,” Conley wrote.
Trump's illness upended the
White House race, with Biden suddenly finding himself alone on the campaign trail -- and able to argue that his distinctly more cautious approach to Covid-19 had been vindicated.
The former vice president, who stood in close proximity to Trump for 90 minutes during their ill-tempered first debate Tuesday in Cleveland, announced that he and his wife Jill tested negative Friday.
Trump's shock diagnosis was a huge blow to his reelection effort, triggering a freeze on plans to barnstorm the country in an attempt to catch up in the polls.
The Trump campaign said all planned events involving the president were either being postponed or going virtual -- starting with the cancellation of a Florida rally Friday, one Saturday in Wisconsin and others in western states like
Arizona next week. Rallies are such a key part of the Trump brand that his sudden inability to travel leaves the campaign scrambling to reinvent its strategy. In addition, Trump has made his argument that coronavirus dangers are overblown a central plank in his reelection platform.
News of Trump's infection came after one of his closest advisors, Hope Hicks, tested positive -- sparking fears of a cluster of cases emanating from the heart of the White House.
Trump met with dozens of people through the week and reportedly went to a fundraiser in New Jersey after it was
known that Hicks had contracted the virus.
The White House said it was carrying out contact tracing. Vice President Mike Pence and other senior figures tested negative. The White House said Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett was negative too.
In his 70s and technically obese, Trump is in a higher-risk category.
As the news rattled global stock markets, leaders including Germany's Angela Merkel, Britain's Boris Johnson, and Russia's Vladimir Putin wished the president and first lady a speedy recovery.