Trump Moves To Walter Reed After COVID-19 Diagnosis
White House says Trump transferred to Walter Reed medical centre ‘out of an abundance of caution’ and will be working from there for the ‘next few days’.
Donald Trump arrives at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, in Bethesda, Maryland, on Friday, October 2, 2020, on Marine One helicopter after he tested positive for COVID-19.
US President Donald Trump has arrived at a military hospital for treatment after being diagnosed with COVID-19, a move the White House said would last for a “few days” and was taken “out of an abundance of caution”.
Roughly 17 hours after he announced he had tested positive for the coronavirus, Trump on Friday walked slowly from the White House to a waiting helicopter to be taken to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in BethesdaHe wore a mask and business suit and did not speak to reporters.
“I think I’m doing very well, but we’re going to make sure that things work out,” Trump said in a brief video that was taped before leaving for Walter Reed and posted on Twitter.
Trump will work in a special suite at the hospital for the next few days as a precautionary measure, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said.
She said he remains “in good spirits, has mild symptoms, and has been working throughout the day” and added: “Out of an abundance of caution, and at the recommendation of his physician and medical experts, the president will be working from the presidential offices at Walter Reed for the next few days.”
Trump, 74, has a mild fever, nasal congestion and a cough, the New York Times reported, citing two people close to him.
White House doctor Sean P Conley said the president is being treated with an experimental drug cocktail and is “fatigued but in good spirits”.
Risk factors
Trump’s diagnosis came during an already turbulent period in Washington and around the world, with the US gripped in a heated presidential election amid the human and economic toll of the virus.
Trump’s immediate campaign events were all cancelled, and his next debate with Democrat rival Joe Biden, scheduled for October 15, is now in question.
Trump has been trying all year – and as recently as Wednesday – to convince the American public that the worst of the pandemic is in the past, and he has consistently played down concerns about being personally vulnerable. He has mostly refused to abide by basic public health guidelines – including those issued by his own administration – such as wearing face coverings in public and practising social distancing. Until he tested positive, he continued to hold campaign rallies that drew thousands of often maskless supporters.
Esther Choo, an emergency physician and professor at Oregon Health and Science University, told Al Jazeera that Trump has a number of risk factors.
“He falls into several categories of people who tend to experience more severe symptoms of COVID-19 and to need hospitalisation: his age, his obesity, the fact he’s male – there seems to be a male predominance in severe disease and hospitalisation and ICU care and fatalities.”
Referring to the president’s doctor previously revealing that Trump has high calcium deposits in his coronary arteries, Choo said: “We also know that he has some coronary heart disease. So, he has more than one risk factor, but that’s across the population and how that plays out in an individual person, we never know.”
She added: “He also has some positive things – he doesn’t smoke, he doesn’t drink alcohol and also importantly, he’s extremely wealthy and privileged.”
