Trump criticized over car ride with Covid-19
Medical authorities are questioning Donald Trump's decision to greet supporters in a drive-past beyond your hospital where he's being treated for Covid-19. There are concerns the united states president, who wore a mask, may have endangered Secret Service staff inside car.
White House spokesperson Judd Deere said the trip on Sunday have been "cleared by the medical team as safe". Questions remain over the seriousness of Mr Trump's illness after conflicting statements over the weekend. The president has been around hospital since Friday, after he announced hours earlier he previously tested positive for the virus.
Covid-19 has infected nearly 7.4 million and killed nearly 210,000 people over the US, according to Johns Hopkins University. President Trump's diagnosis has upended his election campaign, as he faces Democratic challenger Joe Biden on 3 November. An increasing number of folks around the president, including his wife Melania Trump, senior aides and Republican senators, have tested positive with the virus.
Trump waved to well-wishers from behind the glass of a sealed car after tweeting that he'd leave Walter Reed hospital, near Washington, to pay a "surprise visit" to "patriots" outside. In the car, at least two persons could possibly be seen wearing protective gear in leading seats, with Mr Trump sat in the trunk.
Experts say the president's short car trip broke public health advice to quarantine when seeking treatment for the virus, and could have put Secret Service agents inside vehicle at risk of infection. "That Presidential SUV is not only bulletproof, but hermetically sealed against chemical attack. The chance of Covid-19 transmission inside is really as high as it gets outside of surgical procedure," tweeted Dr James Philips, a doctor at the same hospital where in fact the president is being treated.
Those in the president's car would now need to quarantine for two weeks, he said.Democrats have also criticized the trip, with House of Representatives Hakeem Jeffries tweeting: "We are looking for leadership. Not photo ops."But the White House's Judd Deere defended the move, saying "appropriate precautions were used the execution of this movement to safeguard the president and those supporting it, including PPE [personal protective equipment]".
Meanwhile, NBC News reports that Melania Trump, who has remained at the White House with mild symptoms, decided against visiting her husband in hospital as a result of the risks to staff."She has Covid," an unnamed official told NBC on Saturday. "That would expose the agents who would drive her there and the medical staff who walk her up to him."
It emerged the president's condition was much more serious than previously reported when he visited hospital on Friday evening.The White House had said Trump was experiencing "mild symptoms" of Covid-19, but it had been confirmed that he had received extra oxygen after his levels dipped twice in two days.
He was also given the steroid dexamethasone, which is normally reserved for serious cases, according to experts.On Sunday, White House Physician Dr Sean Conley addressed widespread confusion over the state of Trump's health, after conflicting accounts from him and the president's chief of staff, Mark Meadows.Dr Conley had offered an upbeat prognosis on Saturday, which was later contradicted by Meadows who said the president's essential signs the previous 24 hours had been "very concerning".
"I was trying to reflect an upbeat attitude of the team and the president about the course his illness has had," Dr Conley told reporters on Sunday. "I didn't want to provide any information that may steer the span of illness in another direction."
There is scepticism over the chance - raised by doctors earlier - that Donald Trump could leave hospital as early as Monday.It's been three days because the shocking revelation that Donald and Melania Trump tested positive for the coronavirus. Since it now stands, there are a variety of important questions that remain unanswered.
When did Trump last receive a negative test? Do we realize all the factual statements about his health? Should Vice-President Mike Pence be isolating? Why gets the White House been so slow to contact-trace?How these questions are resolved could contain the key to understanding how much damage the virus can do to this president - to his health, his reputation and his political standing.
The president, being 74, a man and someone categorised as obese, is in a higher-risk category for Covid-19. On Friday he was presented with an experimental drug cocktail injection and started a five-day span of the antiviral medication remdesivir.
