Trump news: President’s condition ‘very concerning’ on Friday despite assurances, top aide admits
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There were conflicting reports over the status of President Trump’s health on Saturday after he was hospitalised following his coronavirus diagnosis.
Chief of Staff Mark Meadows told reporters that Mr Trump went through a “very concerning” period on Friday, and said the next 48 hours will “be critical” to his care.
His comments contradicted an earlier assessment of Mr Trump’s health by the president’s doctor, Dr Sean Conley.
Dr Conley, who said Mr Trump was “doing very well", was forced to clarify remarks he made during a press conference on Saturday morning that suggested Mr Trump learned of his diagnosis 72 hours ago.
Had the president been diagnosed on Wednesday, that would mean he attended a fundraiser in Minneapolis, held a rally later that night and flew on Air Force One to attend another fundraiser in New Jersey the next day, all while being infected with the coronavirus that has killed more than 200,000 Americans.
Dr Conley subsequently said that he misspoke and that Mr Trump was three days into his illness.
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While he may be in military hospital with coronavirus, the president likely ended his evening last night in much the same circumstances as the previous year, reaching to tweet:
Here’s a comprehensive list of those around the president who have so far caught the virus.
Josh Marcus has more on history of the Walter Reed Medical Centre, where Donald Trump has been admitted.
Walter Reed, which has since changed locations, first opened its doors in 1909 as an Army hospital, named for an Army doctor and scientist who helped show mosquitoes carry yellow fever. Since then, it has treated hundreds of thousands of America’s soldiers, as well as various presidents and other elected officials.
Walter Reed is where President Calvin Coolidge’s teen soon was treated for an eventually fatal infection. Richard Nixon, who was then President Eisenhower’s Vice President, was treated for a staph infection at Walter Reed in 1960.
He hadn’t fully recovered by the time of his famous first televised debate with John F. Kennedy, where many remarked he looked in ill health compared to the vibrant young Senator. Later, in 1968, Eisenhower himself entered Walter Reed, where he was treated for coronary artery disease and congestive heart failure, and eventually died there in 1969.
Presidents, soldiers, Confederate bullets: The history of Walter Reed hospital, where Trump is being treated for coronavirus
This isn’t the first time the hospital and history have collided
Who infected Donald Trump?
In short - we don't know, although there's no shortage of possible suspects.
Mr Trump, who typically shuns masks, was around hundreds if not thousands of people this week, traveling to a campaign rally, his golf club, the presidential debate, fundraisers and meetings with people involved in his nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court.
One of Trump's closest advisers, White House counsellor Hope Hicks, fell ill with the coronavirus Wednesday while accompanying Trump to a fundraiser in Minnesota, officials say. It's not clear if her case is related to the president's. And Utah senator Mike Lee, who was at the White House last weekend, announced on Friday he had tested positive.
The White House Medical Unit is slated to trace the president's contacts.
When did we know Trump had been exposed?
That question is important to answering whether the president continued his campaign events and other activities despite knowing he might be infecting others, and to knowing whether the White House was adequately transparent about Trump's illness.
White House officials say they learned of Hicks' positive test results for the coronavirus Thursday, after Trump boarded the Marine One helicopter for a private fundraiser in New Jersey. But Trump went ahead with the trip and the fundraiser. He told Fox News that evening he was being tested.
Just before 1 a.m. Friday, he tweeted that he and first lady Melania Trump had tested positive.
AP
Trump having ‘some trouble breathing’, reports suggest
While the White House has officially said Donald Trump was displaying only mild symptoms, one of Donald Trump’s advisers has told CNN that the president was having trouble breathing.
"This is serious," the adviser said. The adviser went on to describe Trump as very tired, very fatigued and having some trouble breathing."
Pioneering drug being used to treat president already in use in north of England hospitals
Colin Drury has more on the news that the pioneering new antibody cocktail called REGN-COV2 doled out to Donald Trump has also been received by patients in the north of England.
While the drug has not yet been peer-reviewed, the co-chief investigator of the government’s Recovery trial, Professor Peter Horby, said: "This particular drug has probably been given to, I would think now, four or five hundred patients, mild or severe patients in different trials, and so far there's been no worrying safety signals.”
Pioneering drug being used to treat Trump’s coronavirus already in use in north of England hospitals
Antibody cocktail is no new it has not yet been peer-reviewed but is ‘very promising’, say experts
‘Cue the wild conspiracy theories,' says Fox News anchor
Fox News Channel's Pete Hegseth has predicted that haters of Trump will quickly surface.
“Cue the wild conspiracy theories at this point,” he said. "Cue the rabbit trails, cue the vitriol and the rabid speculation. None of this has anything to do with the president's best interests, the first lady or the rest of the country."
Trump is a ‘very resilient character’, Boris Johnson says
Boris Johnson has further weighed in on the matter of the US president’s illness, saying that he had no doubt that Mr Trump would make a very strong recovery after the president tested positive for Covid-19 and was moved to a military hospital.
"I've no doubt that he will, he'll make a very strong recovery," Mr Johnson told reporters on Saturday.
"He's a naturally obviously very resilient character and I'm sure he'll come through it very well."
What is Trump’s medicine Remdesivir and is the drug used in the UK?
Commentators have noted that it remains rare for a president to stay overnight in hospital, given the extensive medical facilities available in The White House.
Daisy Lester has more on the situation, including Remdesivir.
What is Trump’s coronavirus medicine remdesivir?
Trump has been hospitalised and is undergoing coronavirus treatment with the drug remdesivir
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