Trump's own White House guest says family died after being turned away from hospital

'No one who has needed a hospital bed has been denied a hospital bed,' the president claims during press briefing

President Donald Trump has claimed hospitals across the US were able to easily accommodate the number of coronavirus patients during the pandemic, but one White House guest later said family died after being turned away.

The president and Vice President Mike Pence held a roundtable on Tuesday to speak with lawmakers and Covid-19 patients following their recovery.

Michigan Representative Karen Whitsett, a Democrat, was in attendance. The lawmaker has made headlines in recent weeks for praising malaria drug hydroxychloroquine, which Mr Trump often promotes, as being the reason she recovered from Covid-19.

"I honestly felt I was going to die," Ms Whitsett said. "I'm telling my story and my truth."

"It can't be just based on my name and your name. It needs to be something that's readily available to everyone in the city of Detroit," she added about the drug being accessible to everyone.

Not only did the representative think the potential Covid-19 treatment, which has been controversial within the health community, should be available to everyone, but she also said hospitals should not be turning away coronavirus patients.

"I've lost several family members to covid - all in one household," she said, The Washington Post reported. "My cousin, Cheryl Fowler, was in ICU. She lost her husband. He was turned away from numerous hospitals, as was she - over four times. And within six hours, she lost her father-in-law, who was turned away numerous times."

Ms Whitsett gave a similar account to the Detroit Free Press about family members being unable to access treatments or testing for the novel virus.

She added: "I had to use my name as a state rep."

Mr Trump said on Monday that no one has been denied a hospital bed, but that statement went against Ms Whitsett's claims. "No one who has needed a hospital bed has been denied a hospital bed," he said during the press briefing.

The vice president added to that statement by saying, "Our hospitals were not overwhelmed and are not overwhelmed at this hour."

Hospitals across the US have experienced shortages in medical supplies and a need to increase bed capacity as more and more patients come in who are experiencing coronavirus symptoms. To accommodate these patients, hospitals have cancelled elective surgeries.

At locations like Elmhurst Hospital Centre in Queens, New York, healthcare workers previously called the situation "apocalyptic" when handling the influx of patients, according to The New York Times.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said last week, though, that he could say with confidence no one in the state who wanted hospital care for Covid-19 was unable to receive it.

In Detroit, Michigan, CNN reported Sinai-Grace Hospital was having to store bodies in vacant rooms because the refrigerated storage units were already at capacity.

"All I know is we ran out of beds to keep our patients on so we couldn't spare any for the bodies," one ER worker told the news organisation.

Since the report, the hospital has ordered more refrigerated storage units to store the bodies.

It remains unclear why people close to Ms Whitsett were unable to seek hospital care in Michigan, but her response contrasted what the Trump administration was claiming when it came to healthcare for Covid-19 patients.

Michigan has more than 27,000 infections and 1,768 confirmed deaths.