Trump leaves hospital; doctors say he is 'not out of the woods'
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump was discharged from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Monday night, three days after he was hospitalized for COVID-19 and hours after his doctors warned they won't know for a week whether he has fully recovered.
Despite receiving experimental drugs and setbacks over the weekend that suggested medical complications, Trump insisted he was feeling “better than I did 20 years ago,” even as his doctor warned the president was “not entirely out of the woods yet.”
Wearing a mask and his usual blue suit, Trump walked out of the hospital, raised his fist and then climbed into an armored SUV at 6:40 p.m., almost three days exactly after he was helicoptered to the hospital.The mixed messaging reflected days of confusion and misleading statements from the White House, which has become a center of contagion for the disease. In addition to the president and first lady Melania Trump, at least a dozen Trump aides, campaign officials, Republican lawmakers and recent contacts have tested positive for the coronavirus since last week.In a tweet Monday, Trump again downplayed the severity of the pandemic that has killed more than 210,000 Americans and infected 7.4 million others — including more than 100,000 since he went into the hospital Friday.“Don't be afraid of Covid,” he tweeted. “Don't let it dominate your life.”The advice rang alarms among health professionals, who pointed out that the disease remains deadly and is spiking in numerous states. For now, they said, Trump remains contagious and should isolate himself at the White House for 10 days to avoid infecting others.Trump's physician, Dr. Sean Conley, told reporters that Trump has “met or exceeded all standard hospital discharge criteria” even as he cautioned that Trump could face a relapse in coming days.“If we can get through (next) Monday ... then we will all take that deep sigh of relief,” he said.Conley acknowledged that Trump's response is unusual because, as president, he was given experimental drugs unavailable to the general public and was treated at the nation's foremost military hospital. Few other Americans have access to that kind of care.“We're in a bit of uncharted territory when it comes to a patient that received the therapies he has so early in the course,” he added.Experts warned that Trump's attempts to portray the disease as not a danger is both premature and irresponsible given the pandemic's deadly toll.“It's a hell of a message to send when everywhere you look around the world, indicators are showing that as we get into the fall we're seeing more cases, just like scientists expected,” said Ralph Catalano, a professor of public health at the University of California, Berkeley. “And to encourage people to put themselves at risk right now seems reckless and inhumane. How irresponsible can a president actually be?”Chris Beyrer, an epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said Trump has been lucky, getting experimental drugs and the world's best health care.“So his message about 'don't be afraid of COVID' rings quite false,” he said. “Over 200,000 American dead suggest we all should remain highly concerned about COVID. Not all have been so fortunate or so well cared for.”Conley said it's been 72 hours since Trump, who has been on several drugs, last had a fever and that his breathing has normalized.He also said Trump would take his fourth course of remdesevir at the hospital prior to leaving, and that a fifth course will be administered at the White House.Conley said the president's medical team was confident they can adequately monitor and care for Trump at the White House, which has a team of doctors on 24-hour call and a sophisticated medical unit.
Conley, who admitted Sunday that his initial comments about Trump's condition had been misleading, refused to say Monday when Trump last had tested negative for coronavirus and whether he had pneumonia or to provide any details about his lung scans.That makes it difficult to pinpoint when Trump actually contracted the disease, how far along he is in his recovery or the potential for further decline.Trump has also received an unusual combination of therapies unavailable to typical patients — some unproven or carrying potential risks — including the Regeneron antibody cocktail and the steroid dexamethasone.“All these little things tell me it's not smooth sailing, but for the moment they feel they can track this in the White House,” said Dr. Jeremy Faust, an emergency room physician and public health specialist at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.“He's going home to the White House where they have a medical unit, they have a medical staff and if he needs to go to the hospital he can go there in no time flat,” Faust said.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that patients with mild to moderate symptoms self-isolate for at least 10 days, a regimen that Trump, who is famously impatient and social, may have trouble abiding.Trump's dismissive behavior toward the virus has helped accelerate its spread among his staff, family and others in his circle.“If this was not the White House, a public health department would probably close down that building,” said Jeffrey Levi, a public health professor at George Washington University.Earlier Monday, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany became the latest to announce a positive test, while a senior official also confirmed that two members of her staff had also received positive tests.In a statement on Twitter, McEnany said she “tested positive for COVID-19” but was “experiencing no symptoms.” She said she would begin to quarantine and work from home.McEnany said she “definitively had no knowledge” that senior Trump aide Hope Hicks had tested positive for the coronavirus before McEnany held a press briefing Thursday without a mask, a decision that has come under scrutiny for potentially exposing reporters and others present.
