By Todd Lassa
President Trump told the White House physician he was ready to leave Walter Reed National Military Medical Center Saturday before noon, less than 24 hours before he was transferred there on Marine One after testing positive for the coronavirus.
“This morning, the president is doing very well,” Dr. Sean P. Conley said in a press conference Saturday morning. He said Trump was not given supplemental oxygen “today,” and when pressed said there was no supplemental oxygen Friday or Thursday before the president tweeted his diagnosis and that of First Lady Melania Trump.
The president’s treatment included antiviral medication remdesivir and eight grams of an experimental monoclonal antibody.
Conley would not definitively say that Trump has received no supplemental oxygen at all. The president had a mild cough, nasal congestion, and fatigue when transported to Walter Reed, and a fever from Thursday into Friday, “which are now improving,” the physician said.
But the treatment timeline Conley outlined indicates Trump tested positive as early as Wednesday, the day after the debate.
The next seven to 10 days will be critical to prevent an inflammatory flare up of the coronavirus, Conley said, but he declined to estimate how long President Trump would remain at Walter Reed. The first lady was not hospitalized because her symptoms from the virus were not critical, the doctor said.
Former Vice President Joe Biden, the Democratic presidential nominee who debated Trump from a distance on a stage with a small, distanced audience has tested negative, as has his wife, Jill. Mike Pence and his wife, Karen, have also tested negative.
It must be noted that staffers, aides, and members of Biden’s team who were in contact with the president must be tested again for the coronavirus in the coming days.
Although the Oct. 15 presidential debate is within two weeks of the president’s quarantine period, neither the White House nor the Commission for Presidential Debates immediately announced it would be cancelled. But unnamed sources told PoliticoFriday “it’s way too early to tell” whether Trump will make it to the scheduled debate in Miami.
Senators Mike Lee (R-Utah), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and John Jenkins, president of the University of Notre Dame, have tested positive. They attended the Sept. 26 Rose Garden announcement of Amy Coney Barrett as Trump’s choice to replace Ruth Bader Ginsberg on the Supreme Court.
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) and Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien also have tested positive.
Close aides and family members who have tested negative include Attorney General William P. Barr, Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, and Baron Trump.
Democratic vice-presidential candidate Kamala Harris also has tested negative and is expected to meet Vice President Pence for the only debate scheduled between the running mates in Salt Lake City Wednesday.
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