by Daniel WOOLLS
Agence France Presse
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US President Donald Trump posted a video Saturday from the hospital where he is battling Covid-19, saying he was improving and would be “back soon” — but acknowledging the crucial coming days would be “the real test.”
“I came here, wasn’t feeling so well. I feel much better now,” Trump said from his business suite at Walter Reed military medical center near Washington.
“We’re working hard to get me all the way back… I think I’ll be back soon and I look forward to finishing up the campaign the way it was started.”
Appearing relaxed in an open-collar blue suit and jacket, Trump acknowledged that there was uncertainty about the course of the disease, which can hit recovering patients hard with no warning.
“I’m starting to feel good. You don’t know over the next period of a few days, I guess that’s the real test, so we’ll be seeing what happens over those next couple of days.”
The largely upbeat report from Trump came after a source familiar with the president’s health — later named in US media as White House chief of staff Mark Meadows — gave a much more worrying assessment.
“The president’s vitals over the last 24 hours were very concerning and the next 48 hours will be critical in terms of his care,” he said. “We’re still not on a clear path to a full recovery.”
The White House has not commented officially and Meadows had asked to speak off-the-record before his name appeared as the source in The New York Times and other US outlets.
Earlier Saturday, in the first update from Trump’s doctors since he was admitted to the hospital, physician Sean Conley said the president was mobile and had been fever free for 24 hours, while his cough, nasal congestion and fatigue were improving.
Trump, 74, is not receiving extra oxygen, he added, and is “doing very well.” A second doctor, Sean Dooley, said the president’s cardiac, kidney and liver function were “normal.”
Conley was evasive when asked whether the president had received supplementary oxygen at any point since falling ill, only confirming that he hadn’t received any at the hospital or on Thursday — the day of his positive test.
Several US media outlets said Trump was on oxygen at the White House on Friday before being admitted to Walter Reed.
– ‘White House cluster –
Conley added to the confusion by suggesting that Trump had been diagnosed on Wednesday — not on Thursday, per the official account — but he later said he had misspoken.
Soon after Trump arrived at the hospital, Conley said in a memo the president was starting a course of therapeutic drug remdesivir and had received an eight-gram dose of an experimental antibody cocktail.
Neither Trump’s doctors nor the White House explained why the president was taking unproven drugs if his progress was satisfactory.
Trump’s optimism over his recovery prospects has been tempered by news that more people close to the president have tested positive for the coronavirus.
The latest is campaign advisor Chris Christie, who was among several aides that helped Trump prepare for the first presidential debate who have since announced positive tests.
Christie and a number of senators and Trump aides are also among a growing list from the president’s orbit to have tested positive for coronavirus after attending an event in the White House Rose Garden last weekend.
The so-called “White House cluster” includes the president’s wife Melania, close confidante Hope Hicks, former White House top aide Kellyanne Conway campaign manager Bill Stepien and Republican senators Thom Tillis and Mike Lee.
Heightening the sense of crisis at the heart of power in America, a third Republican senator, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, announced on Saturday that he had tested positive.
– ‘False sense of comfort’ –
Public health experts have expressed alarm at the outbreak linked to a September 26 celebration of conservative judge Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination to the Supreme Court.
“They relied too much on diagnostic testing. We know that these tests have a very high false negative rate,” said Ali Nouri, president of the Federation of American Scientists.
“By simply relying on these diagnostics to determine who gets to come in and out of the White House, and by not requiring other protections, like social distancing and masks, they created a false sense of comfort for the White House.”
Trump — who is well behind his 77-year-old Democratic election rival Joe Biden in the polls — has been forced to freeze or rework much of his campaign ahead of a potentially messy vote on November 3.
Among the unknowns were the prospects for two remaining presidential debates and whether the president will have to yield power temporarily to Vice President Mike Pence if his condition worsens.
Biden has made Trump’s frequent downplaying of the Covid crisis and mixed messaging on mask-wearing a central campaign theme.
The former vice president, who stood on a stage with Trump for 90 minutes during their ill-tempered first debate Tuesday, announced that he and his wife Jill tested negative Friday.
Biden reminded voters during the debate that he has pushed consistently for a serious approach to the coronavirus, which has killed more than 208,000 Americans, unlike his opponent who has mocked the Democrat for his rigorous use of masks.
© Agence France-Presse