Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
TRUMP IN HOSPITAL
President airlifted from White House as condition worsens with Covid-19
DONALD Trump was rushed to hospital last night after being hit by deadly coronavirus.
The US president was airlifted to the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center as his condition worsened less than 24 hours after he and wife Melania, pictured, tested positive for Covid-19.
COVID-19 victim Donald Trump was last night being moved to a military medical centre as his age and obesity put him at greater risk of death.
Trump, 74, will stay in a special suite at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, for the next few days as a precautionary measure, a White House official said.
Doctors urged the move so the stricken President could get immediate care if needed.
If Trump becomes incapacitated, the US constitution allows for Vice President Mike Pence to take power temporarily.
Trump and wife Melania both tested positive after months in which he downplayed the pandemic, even though it has infected 7.3 million Americans and killed more than 205,000.
Yesterday he tweeted: “FLOTUS [First Lady] and I tested positive for COVID-19.
“We will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately. We will get through this TOGETHER.”
Melania, 50, yesterday claimed that both she and her husband were “feeling good”. However, experts say that those most at risk will often get far more severe symptoms in the second week after their diagnosis.
Trump’s physician Sean Conley confirmed the President had last night been given a “single eight-gram dose of Regeneron’s polyclonal antibody cocktail” and “remains fatigued but in good spirits”. Regeneron is an experimental drug still being trialled.
He is also taking zinc, vitamin D, famotidine, melatonin and aspirin.
Melania “remains well with only a mild cough and headache”.
The shock diagnoses came little more than a month before polling day. Trump’s rival Joe Biden and wife Jill tested negative for coronavirus yesterday morning, their doctor confirmed.
There had been fears the president could have infected Mr Biden during their stormy debate on Tuesday. Despite the pandemic, President Trump refused to suspend his rallies, which have been attended by thousands of supporters, the vast majority were not wearing face coverings.
White House staff were last night being grilled about how long he’d had the virus, despite aides calling him the “most tested man in the world”, and whether there had been a cover-up of a member of his inner
circle being infected. His positive test came after top adviser Hope Hicks, 31, was confirmed to have Covid on Thursday morning, hours after travelling with the President on the Air Force One plane from a rally in Minnesota.
Her symptoms reportedly began on Wednesday night. Trump learned of Hicks’ testing positive on Thursday morning but despite having been around her throughout the week, he continued to meet other people that day. Some raised the possibility Trump had become a “superspreader”. On Thursday he travelled to and from his golf resort in Bedminster, New Jersey, f or two campaign events, not wearing a mask. He was in contact with dozens of people at the events.
Yesterday, Mr Biden wished Trump and Melania a “swift recovery”.
And Boris Johnson, who contracted coronavirus in March, also wished the couple a “speedy recovery”.
Russian President Vladimir Putin sent Trump a supportive telegram. It read in part: “I am certain that your inherent vitality, good spirits and optimism will help you cope with this dangerous virus.” In June, Dr Conley reported that Mr Trump weighed 17st 6lb. At 6ft 3in, that puts him just over the threshold into obesity.
Being male and in his mid-70s also puts him in higher risk groups, with men around twice as likely as women to die from the coronavirus.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says people aged 65 to 74 have a 90% higher risk of death than those in the 18-29 age group.
For people aged 75 to 84, the risk of death is 220 times higher. Insiders say the President had been “desperate” to be seen in public after his diagnosis, given his stance on the virus.
He once called it a “political hoax” and told the American public: “It’s like a miracle, it will disappear.”
However last month it emerged that Trump knew all along about the severity of coronavirus.
Journalist Bob Woodward recorded interviews with him in which the US leader is heard saying the virus was “deadly stuff ” – before the first US death had even been confirmed.
The President explained that he had wanted to avoid a public panic.
Yesterday bookmakers William Hill suspended betting on the next president after a flurry of wagers on Pence.
The firm said: “We have decided that the betting is too volatile.”