'Don’t be afraid' of virus, Trump says as he prepares to leave hospital

By Steve Holland and Susan Heavey

 

U.S. President Donald Trump participates in a phone call with Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley October 4, 2020, in his conference room at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. Not shown in the photo also in the room on the call is Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. Tia Dufour/The White House/Handout via REUTERS

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said he will leave a military hospital where he is being treated for COVID-19 later on Monday, and urged people not to be afraid of the disease, which has killed more than a million people worldwide and wreaked economic havoc.

 

Despite a wave of coronavirus infections that has torn through the White House four weeks before the U.S. presidential election, Trump said he was feeling well and would leave the hospital later in the afternoon after a three-day stay.

 

"I will be leaving the great Walter Reed Medical Center today at 6:30 P.M. Feeling really good! Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don’t let it dominate your life. We have developed, under the Trump Administration, some really great drugs & knowledge. I feel better than I did 20 years ago!" he said on Twitter.

 

Trump, 74, had a high fever and received supplemental oxygen after his blood oxygen levels dropped on Friday, according to his medical team. Doctors have been treating him with a steroid, dexmethasone, that is normally used only in the most severe cases.

 

"Over the past 24 hours the president's condition has continued to improve," Dr. Sean Conley, the White House physician, told reporters in a briefing outside the hospital in Bethesda, Maryland.

 

Trump does not have any respiratory complaints, but Conley said he "may not entirely be out of the woods yet." He added that the president would be surrounded by world-class medical care around the clock at the White House.

 

Trump was reluctant to go to the hospital last week and is eager to get out, a source familiar with the situation told Reuters earlier on Monday.

 

Even if discharged, he will need to continue treatment as he is still undergoing a five-day course of an intravenous antiviral drug, remdesivir. The normal quarantine period for anyone testing positive for the novel coronavirus is 14 days.

 

Trump has frequently downplayed the threat of the pandemic which has infected 7.4 million Americans. In recent days, he released a series of videos to reassure the public he is recovering from the disease caused by the virus.

 

The coronavirus outbreak around Trump, however, widened on Monday when White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said she had tested positive for the virus.

 

McEnany, a well-known figure at the forefront of the White House's often combative dealings with the media, held a briefing for reporters on Thursday in which she did not wear a face mask.

 

Chad Gilmartin and Karoline Leavitt, who work in the White House's press office, also have tested positive, a source confirmed to Reuters.

 

(Additional reporting by Andy Sullivan, Andrea Shalal, Susan Heavey, Lisa Lambert and Tim Ahmann; Writing by Paul Simao; Editing by Alistair Bell and Howard Goller)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-10-06

 

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"Don't be afraid of the virus" says the man who can use hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of elite healthcare and experimental drugs that almost nobody else in his country can access.

Having a look at the picture in the OP is enough to be afraid.

No end to his stupidity, lets see how many more will be infected in his surrounding the coming days. 

You just wish the man had some humility, dignity and common sense to realise that, if he is recovering, it is due to a combination of good luck and the fact he has 50 top doctors around him that others don't have access to , and that he should warn all Americans to take care.

Instead he says he feels 20 years younger, like having covid and the treatment is some sort of  fountain of youth. His appallingness knows no bounds.

 

The more I see and hear about this fiasco, the more I think it has all been staged. 

23 minutes ago, webfact said:

 

"I will be leaving the great Walter Reed Medical Center today at 6:30 P.M. Feeling really good! Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don’t let it dominate your life.

Don't be afraid of Covid .!

What a thing to say .. Breathtakingly insensitive to those already lost to it and their folks and mind numbingly stupid when he's not out of the woods himself yet .. 

They say life imitates art .. if that's true Salvador Dali would've struggled to put on canvas what is going on at the moment .. 

Seems a bit "high" on combination of DEX, O2 therapy, and whatever else he is actually getting.

I'll check and see if my helicopter is fueled to take me to the hospital. 

 

He continues to spout nonsense.   I wonder how much the taxpayers are going to pay for the many gov't officials who got infected?   

 

I wonder how many more people he will infect ?

 

Trump's Kool-aid moment.. drink my poison.. prove your loyalty.. How many are going to hang out in the White House and take it.. ??

I wish I was American...purely so I could vote for this guy. 

1 hour ago, Justgrazing said:

Don't be afraid of Covid .!

What a thing to say .. Breathtakingly insensitive to those already lost to it and their folks and mind numbingly stupid when he's not out of the woods himself yet .. 

They say life imitates art .. if that's true Salvador Dali would've struggled to put on canvas what is going on at the moment .. 

Dali would paint a "pin the tail on the donkey " pic...

A troll post removed.  

 

I can't believe it. The most scary virus since bubonic plague and ebola, beated by an obese McDonalds munching old man as if it was a common cold. What a lion. And for heavens sake, let's open up our countries and economies. This is all the proof I need that Trump has (once again!!) been proven absolutely correct and his haters proven totally wrong.

1 hour ago, Kadilo said:

The more I see and hear about this fiasco, the more I think it has all been staged. 

A total sham! Garnering the sympathy vote!

1 hour ago, webfact said:

Feeling really good! Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don’t let it dominate your life.

Two hundred and twenty thousand people are'nt worrying about it anymore, they're already dead, their families have some reason for concern though! What a shallow man Trump is!

11 minutes ago, TopDeadSenter said:

I can't believe it. The most scary virus since bubonic plague and ebola, beated by an obese McDonalds munching old man as if it was a common cold. What a lion. And for heavens sake, let's open up our countries and economies. This is all the proof I need that Trump has (once again!!) been proven absolutely correct and his haters proven totally wrong.

 

There's always one....

14 minutes ago, TopDeadSenter said:

I can't believe it. The most scary virus since bubonic plague and ebola, beated by an obese McDonalds munching old man as if it was a common cold. What a lion. And for heavens sake, let's open up our countries and economies. This is all the proof I need that Trump has (once again!!) been proven absolutely correct and his haters proven totally wrong.

Just proved what everyone with any sense has been saying.  Protect the sick-elderly, and carefully proceed with your life until the ultimate cure.  Makes Joe Biden look weak, threatening lock-downs and waving his crooked finger at Trump blaming him personally for any and all fatalities.

Almost everybody treat them self now in home if have get covid. Doctors know little better now the disease. And Trump not mention that actualy he have hospital in home (White House) also!

And he have get medicine what normal people cannot get! And like many professional have said, disease is not win case yet!

1 minute ago, 2 is 1 said:

Almost everybody treat them self now in home if have get covid. Doctors know little better now the disease. And Trump not mention that actualy he have hospital in home (White House) also!

And have get medicine what normal people cannot get! And like many professional have said, disease is not win case yet!

That same medicine is coming soon to you, and others that need it.  Even faster if the socialist Democrats get out of the way of the free market and let the drug companies proceed.  Biden and Harris don't trust the vaccines?  LOL.  Who cares, they need to get outta the way and let the big boys take over.

he's not lying.......for a change ?

Don't be afraid when you're the President of the US. 

1 hour ago, Laza 45 said:

How many are going to hang out in the White House and take it.. ??

At least three fewer than yesterday?

 

White House press secretary and two aides have tested positive for coronavirus

 

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/10/05/politics/kayleigh-mcenany-coronavirus-white-house/index.html

 

 

One has to feel for the White House staff: butlers, valets, maids, cooks, cleaning staff, mainenance staff.

2 hours ago, Kadilo said:

The more I see and hear about this fiasco, the more I think it has all been staged. 

You don't mean a WAG the Dog type of event do you?, No, say it is not so, no way it was just about his election year antics, or to garner the sympathy vote.  If it was for the sympathy vote then the man would have held out longer and milked it I think.  Waiting for the touted "It was the use of the hydroxychloroquine" that he took early on during the Covid pandemic to show the people it was harmless, that assisted him in overcoming Covid so fast.

13 minutes ago, mtls2005 said:

At least three fewer than yesterday?

 

White House press secretary and two aides have tested positive for coronavirus

 

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/10/05/politics/kayleigh-mcenany-coronavirus-white-house/index.html

 

 

One has to feel for the White House staff: butlers, valets, maids, cooks, cleaning staff, mainenance staff.

...and the secret service security people.. putting them and their colleagues and their families at risk.. 

10 minutes ago, Laza 45 said:

...and the secret service security people.. putting them and their colleagues and their families at risk.. 

How so?  Seeing as they were wearing n95 masks and using PPE, I don't see your argument. 

1 hour ago, TopDeadSenter said:

I can't believe it. The most scary virus since bubonic plague and ebola, beated by an obese McDonalds munching old man as if it was a common cold. What a lion. And for heavens sake, let's open up our countries and economies. This is all the proof I need that Trump has (once again!!) been proven absolutely correct and his haters proven totally wrong.

 And the haters are really incensed that he didn't die! 

Biden was out there earlier telling his crowd (some 8 or 9 people) to dream about Trump getting the coup de grace. 

What's wrong with these people? 

1 hour ago, TopDeadSenter said:

I can't believe it. The most scary virus since bubonic plague and ebola, beated by an obese McDonalds munching old man as if it was a common cold. What a lion. And for heavens sake, let's open up our countries and economies. This is all the proof I need that Trump has (once again!!) been proven absolutely correct and his haters proven totally wrong.

You’re right not to believe it.

52 minutes ago, RoadWarrior371 said:

Just proved what everyone with any sense has been saying.  Protect the sick-elderly, and carefully proceed with your life until the ultimate cure.  Makes Joe Biden look weak, threatening lock-downs and waving his crooked finger at Trump blaming him personally for any and all fatalities.

 

What did it prove? That if you have access to the best care in the world, you might survive? 

Hardly anyone will have access to the same care that he did.

So your point is what?

Of course no need for you to reply, since both yours and TopDeadSenter's icons already tell the whole story.

38 minutes ago, teacherclaire said:

Don't be afraid when you're the President of the US. 

It’s fear that made him check out of the hospital.