Trump’s age, health woes raise his risk for COVID-19 illness
Trump was fatigued and will spend a “few days” at a military hospital, White House officials said later in the day.
“The odds are far and away that he’ll have a mild illness” asmost people with the virus do, said Dr. Gregory Poland, an infectious disease specialist at the Mayo Clinic who has no role in Trump’s care.
But COVID-19 is very unpredictable, he stressed.
“We have young people who die. We have nursing home patients, a lot of them, who actually do quite well,” Poland said.
Here’s what experts say about Trump’s outlook and next steps.
Trump’s risks
Older age, being male and having any other health problems increase the chance of severe illness, and Trump has those.
At 74, “his age would be the primary risk factor,” said Dr. David Banach, an infectious diseases physician at the University of Connecticut’s health system.
People ages 65 to 74 are seven times more likely to be hospitalized for COVID-19 than those who are 18 to 29 years old, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The risks rise exponentially at older ages.
Trump also is obese, with a bodymass index just past 30.
“Obesity is a state of chronic lowered immunity. In otherwords, you don’t respond to vaccines as well, you don’t respond to infections as well” as people of normal weight, Poland said.
Trump takes a statin drug to lower his cholesterol, and that condition also raises his risk for COVID-19 complications, doctors said.
Next steps
There’s no need yet for tests such as X-rays, but doctors likely will check him often for any difficulty breathing, coughing or other symptoms, Banach said.
No drugs are known to help for people with no or very mild symptoms; remdesivir and steroids have shown benefit for certain moderately and severely ill patients.
Nevertheless, Dr. David Boulware, a University of Minnesota infectious disease specialist who has led studies of some coronavirus treatments, speculated that Trump’s doctors might try promising therapies being tested in studies now, such as antibody drugs or convalescent plasma — blood from COVID-19 survivors.
“More than likely, he’s going to get treated upfront,” Boulware said. “They’re not going to just sit around and watch to see if he gets sick.”