Trump’s Covid car ride is branded ‘insanity’
US president Donald Trump’s brief venture out in a motorcade on Sunday to salute cheering supporters outside the hospital where he is being treated for Covid-19 has been criticised.
“This is insanity,” said Dr James P Phillips, an attending physician at Walter Reed National Military Medical Centre, where Mr Trump has been treated since Friday evening.
“Every single person in the vehicle during that completely unnecessary Presidential ‘drive-by’ just now has to be quarantined for 14 days. They might get sick. They may die. For political theatre,” the doctor added on Twitter. “Commanded by Trump to put their lives at risk for theatre.”
Hours earlier, Mr Trump’s medical team reported his blood oxygen level dropped suddenly twice in recent days and that they gave him a steroid typically only recommended for the very sick. Still, the doctors said Mr Trump’s health is improving and that he could be discharged early.
With one month until election day in the US, Mr Trump was eager to project strength despite his illness.
The still-infectious president surprised supporters who had gathered outside the hospital in Maryland, driving by in a black vehicle with the windows rolled up. Secret Service agents inside the vehicle could be seen in masks and other protective gear.
The move capped a weekend of contradictions that fuelled confusion about Mr Trump’s health, which has imperilled the leadership of the US government and up-ended the final stages of the presidential campaign.
While Mr Trump’s physician offered a rosy prognosis on his condition, his briefings lacked basic information, including the findings of lung scans, or were quickly muddled by more serious assessments of the president’s health by other officials.
In a video released by the White
House on Sunday, Mr Trump insisted he understood the gravity of the moment.
White House spokesman Judd Deere said Mr Trump’s trip outside the hospital “was cleared by the medical team as safe to do”.
He added that precautions were taken, including using personal protective equipment, to protect Mr Trump as well as White House officials and Secret Service agents.
Joe Biden’s campaign, meanwhile, said the Democratic presidential nominee again tested negative for coronavirus on Sunday.
The results come five days after Mr Biden spent more than 90 minutes on the debate stage with Mr Trump.
Mr Biden, who has taken a far more cautious approach to in-person events, had two negative tests on Friday.
The White House has refused to say when Mr Trump last tested negative and whether he was tested before the debate, but the Cleveland Clinic, which co-hosted the event, said that Mr Trump’s team certified the day of the debate that he and everyone who accompanied him in the debate hall had received a negative Covid-19 test.
For his part, Mr Trump still faces questions about his health. His doctors sidestepped questions on Sunday about exactly when Mr Trump’s blood oxygen dropped – an episode they neglected to mention in multiple statements the day before – or whether lung scans showed any damage.
Navy Commander Dr Sean Conley acknowledged that he had tried to present a sunnier description of the president’s condition on Saturday. “I was trying to reflect the upbeat attitude that the team, the president, that his course of illness has had. Didn’t want to give any information that might steer the course of illness in another direction,” he said.
First lady Melania Trump has remained at the White House as she recovers from her own bout of the virus.