TRUMP: I FEEL LIKE I’M 54!
President boasts about health as he checks out of hospital... but doctors say he’s not out of woods
DonalD Trump said he was feeling better than he did 20 years ago as he prepared to leave hospital last night.
Four days after testing positive for coronavirus, the President, 74, checked out of the Walter Reed Medical Centre and headed back to the White House.
He was discharged from the military hospital even though his personal doctor admitted: ‘He may not be entirely out of the woods yet.’
after much speculation throughout the day, Mr Trump tweeted just after 7.30pm GMT: ‘I will be leaving the great Walter Reed Medical Centre today. Feeling really good!’
He then downplayed the pandemic, which has so far killed 210,000 americans.
‘Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don’t let it dominate your life,’ he added. ‘We have developed, under the Trump administration, some really great drugs and knowledge. I feel better than I did 20 years ago!’
Mr Trump had been given nine different treatments during his short stay in the hospital’s presidential suite. He was due to be given a fourth dose
‘In uncharted territory’
of anti-viral ebola drug remdesivir last night and would also continue a course of dexamethasone – a powerful steroid normally reserved for seriously ill Covid- 19 patients with breathing difficulties.
Dr Sean Conley, physician to the President, would not confirm when Mr Trump’s last negative test was, but told a Press conference: ‘over the past 24 hours, the President has continued to improve. He has met or exceeded all hospital discharge criteria.
‘It is more than 72 hours since his last fever. Though he may not entirely be out of the woods yet, the team and I agree that all of the evaluations and his clinical status support his safe return home where he will be surrounded by world class medical care 24/7.’
Dr Conley said previously the critical period for the President would come seven to ten days from the onset of symptoms. last night, he admitted: ‘We remain cautiously optimistic and on guard because we’re in a bit of uncharted territory when it comes to a patient that received the therapies he had so early in the course.’
advisers had urged the President to stay in hospital prior to his announcement that he was leaving. They fear a relapse would destroy his reelection campaign. But reports said he was complaining of looking weak.
Robert Wachter, chairman of the University of California at San Francisco’s department of medicine, said: ‘For someone sick enough to have required remdesivir and dexamethasone, I can’t think of a situation in which a patient would be okay to leave on day three, even with the White House’s medical capacity.’
The President had earlier been criticised for taking a motorcade to soak up the adulation of his fans. The ridea past, blasted as ‘ insanity’ by one physician at Walter Reed, was organised to alleviate his boredom, it was claimed.
Experts had earlier said that Mr Trump should stay in hospital because at 74, obese and with a heart condition, he is in high-risk category. at least 13 people in his inner circle have tested positive for the virus in the last few days.
The latest was his Press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, 32. Yesterday the Wall Street Journal and CBS reported that Mr Trump failed to disclose a positive test to the nation during a TV interview on Thursday night.
Instead during the phone-in, he said: ‘I’ll get my test back either tonight or tomorrow morning’. That night, Mr Trump also went to a fundraiser attended by hundreds at his new Jersey Golf Club.
at 1am on Friday he tweeted out his diagnosis, upending the US election with just four weeks until the poll.
‘Obese and with a heart condition’