Dr. Sean Conley at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (screen capture)On Sunday, Donald Trump’s medical team admitted they had given ‘an overly rosy description’ of Trump’s COVID-19 medical status on Saturday.
But there are still questions regarding when the president’s diagnosis occured, when he first developed symptoms, how severe those symptoms were and if he had been given oxygen at any point.
From the New York Times:
“I didn’t want to give any information that might steer the course of illness in another direction, and in doing so, you know, it came off that we were trying to hide something, which wasn’t necessarily true,” Dr. Sean P. Conley, the White House physician, said in a briefing with reporters Sunday.
The doctors said that Mr. Trump had a “high fever” on Friday, and that there had been two incidents when his oxygen levels dropped — one on Friday and one on Saturday. They said Mr. Trump received oxygen at the White House on Friday; they were not clear about whether it was administered again on Saturday.
Medical experts said that despite the relatively upbeat tone of the news conference Sunday, the details of his treatment and the fact that his oxygen levels have been dropping showed that the illness has progressed beyond a mild case of Covid-19.
Follow the continuous updates at the New York Times here.
Dr. Conley: “I didn’t want to give any information that might steer the course of illness in another direction and in doing so it came off that we were trying to hide something, which wasn’t necessarily true.”
My Q: How would providing facts steer the course of Trump’s illness?
— Yamiche Alcindor (@Yamiche) October 4, 2020
On reluctance to provide more specific information on Saturday, Dr. Sean Conley says, “I didn’t want to give any information that might steer the course of illness in another direction.” pic.twitter.com/i2IGYeK7Y3
— The Recount (@therecount) October 4, 2020
Sanjay Gupta says doctors at Walter Reed are throwing “the kitchen sink” at Trump, feeding him 3 different “serious” medications, one of which is experimental in nature. He suggests this is far more serious than what Conley is letting on.
— Tim Alberta (@TimAlberta) October 4, 2020