President Trump in hospital
TRANSCRIPT: Hello, it is the night of October 2, and I wanted to give some updates on President Donald Trump and his coronavirus infection.
Trump is now at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. He will be in that hospital for several days.
He posted a 18-second video on Twitter before he walked to a helicopter to go to the hospital. Here it is with captions.
[Clip]
Prior to Trump’s hospitalization, doctors gave him a single dose of an experimental antibody therapy made by drug company Regeneron. The goal of this dose is to reduce the virus loads in Trump’s body. The CEO of Regeneron said Trump is in a race against the virus, that his immune system is now trying to overtake the virus. The antibodies in the dose is to help with that fight. The CEO said the dose he received is large and should last a long time, even beyond when he’s made a complete recovery. It’s a large dose.
Trump received several other supplements but was not prescribed hydroxychloroquine. A medical expert told the New York Times that he would not give Trump this because it could cause heart problems.
CNN and the New York Times reported that Trump has a low-grade fever, congestion, and cough. His White House physician said Trump showed fatigue.
Trump is in a higher-risk category because of his age (74), his weight, and because he doesn’t normally wear masks and those around him don’t normally wear masks, so there could be higher amounts of the virus that got into his lungs. That would make Trump’s fight harder.
The White House said there is no transfer of power to the Vice President as Trump is still in charge. The White House expects Trump to work from the presidential offices at the Walter Reed Hospital. Trump will have access to an office, a conference room, and a hospital bedroom. The White House said Trump is at the hospital out of an abundance of caution.
The Washington Post said should Trump’s condition worsen, Trump can consider a temporary surrender of his powers and hand it over to the Vice President according to the 25th Amendment.
In separate but related news, Sen. Thom Tills (R-NC) has tested positive for the coronavirus. He is the second Republican senator who attended the Supreme Court nomination ceremony of Amy Coney Barrett on Saturday to become infected.
I just saw in the news that Kellyanne Conway, the former counselor to the president, tested positive for the coronavirus. She also attended the ceremony on Saturday. A lot of infections.
In another news, Joe Biden’s campaign said they would pull negative ads against Trump during this time.
Former President Barack Obama said he extends his best wishes to President Trump and that they will get a speedy recovery.
