President Donald Trump’s physician said that it was safe for the president to return to the White House on Monday, as he continued to fight the coronavirus.
“Although he might not be entirely out of the woods yet, the team and I agree that all of our evaluations and most importantly his clinical status support the president’s safe return home,” Dr. Sean Conley said in a press conference with reporters outside the hospital.
The president announced the news himself on Twitter earlier Monday afternoon.
Conley said that the president was awake, alert, and not experiencing “fogginess” from any of the treatments that he was taking.
“I think you’ve seen the videos, and now the tweets, and you’ll see him shortly, you know, he’s back,” he said.
Conley indicated that doctors would make their final diagnosis at some point early next week.
“We’re looking to this weekend, if we can get through to Monday, with him remaining the same or improving better yet, then we will all take that final sigh of relief,” he said.
Dr. Sean Dooley said that the president’s vitals, such as oxygen levels, body temperature, heart rate, and blood pressure, were all good. Dr. Brian Garibaldi said that the president received a fourth dose of remdesivir, and would get a fifth and final dose on Tuesday at the White House and would continue to stay on dexamethasone.
“The president has been a phenomenal patient,” Conley said, and added, “He has never once pushed us to do anything that was beyond what is a safe and reasonable practice.”
Dr. Jason Blaylock, an infectious disease specialist, said that he worked with the White House medical team about the status of the president and developed protocols at the White House to keep him from spreading the virus upon his return.
“It’s in line with everything we’ve been doing upstairs for the last several days,” Conley said.
He said that the president would still have a “top-notch” medical staff at the White House that would continue to monitor his care.
Conley said that it was good to get patients home and out of the hospital and sent people home with medications all of the time.
“Right now there is nothing that’s being done upstairs here, that we can’t safely conduct down home,” he said.
Citing Dr. Anthony Fauci, Conley said that the first five days of infection meant that the patient could shed the virus and said that after seven days, it was almost entirely eliminated. He said that the 7-10 day window was typically what was recommended for coronavirus patients.
“The president has been surrounded by medical and security staff for days wearing full PPE,” he said.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.