Not ‘Out Of The Woods’: Trump Faces COVID’s Precarious Second Week
Without providing many details about President Donald Trump's condition, his physician Dr. Sean Conley said Monday afternoon: “Though he may not entirely be out of the woods yet, the team and I agree that all our evaluations and most importantly his clinical status support the president’s safe return home where he’ll be surrounded by world class medical care 24/7." COVID patients are watched closely during the second week of the disease as they can relapse quickly.
The Wall Street Journal:
President Trump Still Faces Risk As He Convalesces At White House
President Trump has left the hospital to return to the White House, but he will still require close monitoring and could be at risk of worsening symptoms in the coming days, doctors said. ... Doctors treating the president said Monday that Mr. Trump didn’t have a fever and his oxygen levels were normal, an important indicator for patients with Covid-19. At least one of the medications the president is taking can bring down fever, so it is not clear if his temperature is truly back to normal, according to doctors not involved in his care. Mr. Trump received supplemental oxygen on Friday and Saturday when his blood oxygen level dropped. (Wilde Mathews and Hernandez, 10/5)
NPR:
Back At White House, Trump Still Faces Serious Health Risks
At Monday's press briefing, though largely optimistic about the president's condition, his physician, Sean Conley, said he "may not be out of the woods yet." "I would also agree with the medical team that just because he's going home, he's not completely out of the woods," says Dr. Faisal Masud, medical director of critical care at Houston Methodist Hospital. "He has to demonstrate continuous success and no lung issue because, you know, some of these patients have long-term lung impact." (Chatterjee, 10/5)
The Hill:
Trump's Physician Declines To Provide Key Information On His Health
White House physician Sean Conley on Monday ducked repeated questions from reporters about President Trump's health and the timeline of his COVID-19 infection, even as he insisted the president is well enough to leave the hospital and return to the White House. Conley, who has come under scrutiny for offering conflicting statements about the president's health in recent days, briefed reporters hours before Trump is expected to depart Walter Reed hospital, where he’s been treated for the virus for three days. (Samuels, 10/5)
Politico:
What We Know — And Still Don't Know — About Trump's Illness
President Donald Trump's medical team on Monday afternoon gave a mixed picture of his condition hours before they prepared to send him back to the White House, continuing to leave key questions about his health unanswered.... [They] still refused to answer questions that could have indicated the severity of Trump’s illness, including whether the president's lung scans had revealed damage or pneumonia. They also dodged questions about the date of Trump’s last negative coronavirus test — information that could help determine who he may have exposed to the virus before his diagnosis — and said they didn’t have information on his viral load, which could indicate his level of contagiousness. (10/5)
The New York Times:
Charting A Covid-19 Immune Response
Amid a flurry of press conferences delivering upbeat news, President Trump’s doctors have administered an array of experimental therapies that are typically reserved for the most severe cases of Covid-19. Outside observers were left to puzzle through conflicting messages to determine the seriousness of his condition and how it might inform his treatment plan. Though Mr. Trump left Walter Reed medical center on Monday night to continue his recovery in the White House, the future of his health status is unclear. Physicians have warned that the president remains at a precarious point in his disease course. The coronavirus can be a tricky adversary — and for many people whose cases of Covid-19 are severe, the greatest threat to survival might not be the pathogen itself, but the deadly forces that the body marshals to fight it. (Wu and Corum, 10/5)
