President Donald Trump tweeted about a video shot from the White House Rose Garden where he says he has been ‘cured’ by the experimental drug Regeneron – then pitched the medication and promised to make it available to all Americans.
The president released the outdoor statement Wednesday evening, after being out of sight for more than 24 hours. It was not immediately clear whether he had even shot the video Wednesday, Trump having promised to communicate in some fashion on Tuesday.
‘I think this was a blessing from god that I caught it. This was a blessing in disguise,’ Trump said.
He went out to tout the expermintal antibody cocktail Regeneron.
‘I heard about this drug. I said let me take it. It was my suggestion,’ he said. Then he proclaimed himself ‘cured’ and said he wanted every American to get the type of treatment he got.
Trump is just one of 10 people receiving the drug, which is still in the experimental phase, and is intended to boost antibodies to fight the infection.
Trump traveled by helicopter to Walter Reed where a team of top physicians and administered a series of medications, including a steroid that critics have said could be making the president manic.
Trump spoke without a mask, after removing his mask when entering the White House Monday night upon his arrival.
Presumably he was filmed by a White House videographer. The video came soon after it was revealed that Trump returned to the Oval Office on Wednesday afternoon despite being contagious from the coronavirus, the state of his health uncertain and several aides fighting the disease.
White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows was with Trump in the presidential office suite in the West Wing of the White House – the area where all the president’s staff work – as was Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino, the White House said. Meadows was wearing protective gear and a table with PPE is set up outside the West Wing.
A nurse is on duty outside the Oval Office, The New York Times reported, citing a source. Additionally, a cleaning crew was seen entering the West Wing shortly after the report of Trump’s arrival back in his office.
The White House announced six days ago Trump tested positive for the disease. He left the hospital two days ago.
While the president has been eager to get back to work, his fury of tweets and his decision to end talks on a coronavirus relief package – announced in a tweet that sent the stock market tumbling Tuesday – have led to questions about his mental state.
The president taking the steroid dexamethasone as part of his treatment for coronavirus. The steroid is known to have side effects that can affect the brain and thought processes. Doctors also warned that dexamethasone comes with risks of serious side effects, including mood swings, aggression and confusion.
He has been trying to project a picture of health after his diagnosis and as he trails Joe Biden in the polls with Election Day less than six weeks away.
Trump went into the Oval via the colonnade, which is the outdoor walkway that leads from the residence, around the Rose Garden and to the outer doors of the West Wing. That kept him away from West Wing hallways where staff work in cramped, crowded offices.
He was briefed on the stimulus talks and Hurricane Delta, the White House announced. Trump tweeted he spoke with Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards about the hurricane headed to their coast and urged people to listen to FEMA.
‘Was just briefed on Hurricane Delta, and spoke with @GovAbbott of Texas and @LouisianaGov John Bel Edwards. Please heed the directions of your State and Local Officials. We are working with them very closely — please be prepared, be careful, and be safe!,’ he wrote.
A Marine guard appeared in front of the West Wing Wednesday afternoon, giving a clue as to what was going on in the building behind him. A Marine is present when the president is in the Oval Office.
A Marine guard appeared in front of the West Wing Wednesday afternoon after President Donald Trump returned to the Oval Office
A cleaning crew enters the West Wing of the White House
President Donald Trump returned to the Oval Office on Wednesday – six days after it was announced he had COVID and two days after he left the hospital
White House deputy press secretary Brian Morgenstern said precautions were in place for when the president wanted to return to his office.
‘We have ways for him to do that, we have PPE that we can use. And we can interact with him standing back like you’re standing back,’ he told reporters outside the White House earlier Wednesday.
‘And people can wear masks, or goggles or gloves or whatever may be needed. We have the CDC guidelines,’ he added.
He pointed out that the ‘White House in the West Wing are deep cleaned on a regular basis. So there is a way for him to work out of a variety of rooms safely when he’s ready to do that. I think we saw today in the doctor’s announcement that he’s symptom free. That he has antibodies that they’re identifying now it’s a great sign.’
Dr. Sean Conley, the president’s lead physician, said in a statement Wednesday Trump is stable, has not experienced coronavirus symptoms for 24 hours, and has shown signs of antibodies to the virus in his system.
The president has received a course of the antiviral medication remdesivir. Anti virals work by injecting antibodies into the patient’s system to help the person fight the disease. It’s unclear what level of the drug Trump has received.
Shortly after the statement on Trump’s condition from his osteopath, Regeneron issued a statement saying that the presence of antibodies could simply be those he had received through their drug – which means that calling it a ‘great sign’ may not in fact be true.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines state that in order to ‘return to work,’ individuals must be 10 days past the time when they first experienced symptoms.
According to updates from the president’s medical team, Trump first started feeling ill on Friday, when a fever was detected and his oxygen fell below normal levels. He went to the hospital on Friday evening.
If a person has COVID, the CDC advises: Stay home and, ‘as much as possible, stay in a specific room and away from other people.’ The agency also advises people to wear a face mask if they have to be around others. ‘If you need to be around other people or animals in or outside of the home, wear a mask,’ the CDC says.
It’s unknown how serious Trump’s COVID attack is. The amount and of medical treatment he’s receiving indicates a serious infection.
‘People who are severely ill with COVID-19 might need to stay home longer than 10 days and up to 20 days after symptoms first appeared,’ the CDC advises.
Some doctors objected to the president’s return to the office.
‘He should be in isolation. That is pretty clear,’ Dr. Sanjay Gupta said on CNN. ‘Regardless of whether president or anybody, if you have coronavirus, there are all sorts of timelines in this sort of thing. It’s not an exact science but at least ten days after people start having symptoms is typically the infectious sort of period.’
He added: ‘They have got to assume that he has the virus, he is shedding the virus, so he is putting, you know, those people who are going to be at risk. Is he wearing a mask? Is there additional ventilation inside there? Are there people within close proximity? Are they wearing personal protective equipment and do they know how to wear it properly?’
Trump has been recovering in the residence since he returned to the White House Monday night after spending four days in Walter Reed Medical Center.
There is an office in the residence for the president to work out of.
In his update on Wednesday afternoon, Conley shared the president had a message for Americans: ‘I feel great!’
Conley, a Navy Commander, said labs taken Monday show there are COVID-19 antibodies in the president’s system – raising questions for when he truly contracted coronavirus.
‘Of note today, the President’s labs demonstrated detectable levels of SARS-CoV-2IgG antibodies from the labs drawn Monday, October 5; initial IgG levels drawn late Thursday night were undetectable’ Conley wrote in his statement.
Conley also noted Trump has not needed any supplemental oxygen since his initial hospitalization at Walter Reed Medical Center on Friday.
Trump was already being tagged by critics with a bout of ‘roid rage’ when he fired off 42 tweets Tuesday and overnight, attacking the FBI, FDA, Joe Biden, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Chris Wallace.
He was back at it Wednesday morning, this time retweeting a claim that if Democrats take over the government, the nation would turn into a ‘hellhole.’
In just one fiery example Wednesday, Trump went after former first lady Michelle Obama, who ranks as among the most popular political figures in the country.
A day after she released a 24-minute video calling him a racist, Trump retweeted actor James Woods – who replaced the background for the clip with shots of urban mayhem and buildings on fire.
Donald Trump’s top physician, Dr. Sean Conley, said Wednesday that the president has not experiencing symptoms related to coronavirus for 24 hours
In the statement updating Americans, Conley shared the president said, ‘I feel great!’
A member of the White House cleaning staff sprays the press briefing room; at least 14 people connected to President Trump have tested positive for COVID
Pelosi admonished Trump in an appearance on ABC’s ‘The View,’ calling for the ‘enablers’ around him to undertake an ‘intervention.’
‘There are enablers around the president who really should know better,’ she said.
Pelosi also called the White House ‘one of the most dangerous places in the country’ and said she wouldn’t go anywhere near it, then ripped the president’s negotiating strategy.
‘It’s hard to see any clear sane path on what he’s doing but the fact is he saw the political downside of his statement of walking away from the negotiations … He’s rebounding from a terrible mistake he made yesterday,’ she said.
‘Last time I had an interaction with the president was the State of the Union address, and then after that, I said to my staff, I said, ‘I think he was medicated, there’s something wrong with how he came on and presented.”
So far, 21 people within the president’s inner circle – including himself and his wife – have tested positive for coronavirus over the last week. White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany and adviser Stephen Miller are among those infected.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi called the White House ‘one of the most dangerous places in the country’
President Trump fired off 42 tweets Tuesday and overnight, including retweeting a video posted by actor James Woods where Michelle Obama’s background was replaced with fires and urban unrest
The ‘super spread’ event that likely sparked the White House outbreak was the Rose Garden announcement last Saturday where Trump named Amy Coney Barrett as his Supreme Court nominee.
Barrett tested positive for COVID-19 earlier this summer, but has since tested negative.
Trump confirmed overnight Thursday that he and first lady Melania Trump tested positive after they were made aware earlier in the day that his counselor Hope Hicks contracted the virus.
It also appears another indecent where cases spread was at the White House event honoring Gold Star families last Sunday.
Trump was transferred to Walter Reed Medical Center on Friday, where he was treated at the presidential suite for three nights.
Trump’s medical team on Sunday said the president was started on dexamethasone, a generic steroid long and widely used to reduce inflammation associated with other diseases. The steroid was begun after Trump experienced low oxygen levels.
Dr Ashish Jha, Dean of Brown University’s School of Public Health, told Fox News: ‘We definitely see in 30-40 percent of people pretty substantial effects…[of] the anxiety, the agitation.
Scientific research has shown that just a few days on dexamethasone can leave patients with memory and cognitive deficits. Corticosteroids – the class of drugs dexamethasone belongs to – may cause psychiatric side effects in anywhere from 1.8 to 57 percent of patients taking them.
A study published by the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota found that unpredictable ‘adverse psychiatric reactions’ were relatively common among people taking the drugs.
Experts’ first worry was that the use of dexamethasone to treat Trump suggested he was very sick, since the $6 steroid may be dangerous to people with mild COVID-19.
But because it’s been linked to everything from mania to memory problems, and aggression to psychosis, some are also concerned that the president’s judgement could be impaired as he reportedly continues to work through his illness.
Trump has expressed a willingness to get back to work even as his doctor said on Monday he not ‘out of the woods.’
There was confusion Wednesday morning about whether Trump has gone back on the job.
His economic adviser Larry Kudlow told CNBC’s ‘Squawk Box’ that Trump went to the Oval Office on Tuesday, using ‘extra precautions’ but then refused to say what they were claiming they were ‘much greater than simply masking.’
Astonishingly, just minutes later the White House chief of staff Mark Meadows claimed Trump had not been in the Oval Office but was planning to go back later Wednesday. That position was backed up Meadows aide Ben Williamson, who stated flatly that Trump ‘was not there.’
TRUMP’S INNER CIRCLE WHO HAVE TESTED POSITIVE FOR COVID
WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 1
Ronna McDaniel, 47. Chair of the Republican National Convention
McDaniel is thought to have been the first positive case. It was not made public until after Trump’s diagnosis.
She was last in contact with Trump on September 25. McDaniel began isolating on September 26 when a member of her family tested positive. She got her results several days later.
THURSDAY OCTOBER 2
Hope Hicks, 31, Counselor to the President
Hicks was the first case reported and was tied to the President’s positive test.
She flew with him through the week before he was diagnosed and started feeling unwell on her way back from a rally in Minnesota on Wednesday night.
She quarantined on Air Force One to stay away from him.
President Donald Trump, 74
Confirmed positive diagnosis on Friday October 2 at 1am. Was taken to Walter Reed on Friday night, where he remained on Monday afternoon.
Reported symptoms included trouble breathing, lethargy and a fever.
He was given an antibody cocktail on Friday and other treatments.
First Lady Melania Trump, 50
Confirmed positive diagnosis on Friday October 2 at 1am. She has been quarantining in the White House.
She suffered mild symptoms including a cough and a headache but has said repeatedly that she feels ‘good’.
FRIDAY OCTOBER 2
Fr. John Jenkins, 66, President of the University of Notre Dame
Jenkins attended the announcement of Amy Coney Barrett as Trump’s Supreme Court Nomination without a mask on Saturday September 25.
The event in the White House Rose Garden is now widely believed to be the source of many of the infections.
He is not thought to have severe symptoms.
Mike Lee, 49, Republican Utah Senator
Lee also attended the event in the Rose Garden and he was seen hugging other attendees without a mask on.
He is not thought to have severe symptoms either.
Bill Stepien, 42, Trump’s Campaign Manager
Stepien tested positive after Trump.
He had mild, flu-like symptoms and planned to continue working from home.
He attended Tuesday night’s rally in Cleveland, having flown with Trump and Hicks on Air Force One to and from the event.
Michael Shear, 52, New York Times White House correspondent, and two other unnamed journalists
The journalists’ positive diagnoses were revealed on Friday.
Two attended the SCOTUS event, where they said they were forced into pen like enclosures at the back, with little space between them.
Hardly any of the guests at the event wore masks, they said.
SATURDAY OCTOBER 3
Thom Tillis, 60, Republican North Carolina Senator
Tillis announced that he’d tested positive after routinely testing negative.
He said he was asymptomatic.
‘Over the last few months, I’ve been routinely tested for COVID-19, including testing negative last Saturday, but tonight my rapid antigen test came back positive,’ he said in a statement.
Chris Christie, 58, Former New Jersey Governor
Christie has been at the White House frequently in recent weeks and was at the SCOTUS event.
He tested positive on Saturday and checked himself into hospital, he said, out of an abundance of caution because of his health conditions including asthma.
Nicholas Luna, 29, Chief of Oval Office Operations and ‘body man’
Luna’s job requirements involve following Trump around at all times.
He tested positive on Saturday night, more than 24 hours after President Trump did
Ron Johnson, 65, Republican Wisconsin Senator
Johnson still attended an Oktoberfest event on Friday night while awaiting the results of a COVID-19 test, despite knowing he had come into contact with others who had tested positive.
He defended it, saying he was asymptomatic
SUNDAY OCTOBER 4
Kellyanne Conway, 53, Former White House Counselor to the President
Conway and her daughter have both tested positive.
The daughter, Claudia, revealed on Tik Tok that her mom had been coughing all over their home
MONDAY OCTOBER 5
Kayleigh McEnany, 32, White House Press Secretary
McEnany had tested negative last week after Trump’s diagnosis and she continued giving press conferences without a mask on until Sunday
Chad Gilmartin. Assistant Press Secretary
Karoline Leavitt, Assistant Press Secretary
Two unnamed staff members who work in the White House residence.
They were told to use ‘discretion’ when discussing it, according to The New York Times
TUESDAY OCTOBER 6
Stephen Miller, 35, White House policy advisor
Miller had been working remotely for five days, and tested negative for coronavirus each day prior to testing positive, the administration said.