Updated: February 26, 2021
President Donald Trump on Saturday completed his second dose of the Remdesivir drug, as he entered a critical phase of COVID-19 treatment.
In an update on Saturday evening, White House doctors said Trump had completed the second dose of the Remdesivir drug without complication.
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Trump’s physician Sean Conley said the President has made “substantial progress” since he was diagnosed with COVID-19 on Thursday evening.
“President Trump continues to do well,” Conley wrote. “He remains fever-free and off supplemental oxygen with a saturation level between 96 and 98%”
Conley added that the President spent “most of the afternoon conducting business” and was able to move around “without difficulty.”
Conley said the president is “not yet out of the woods,” even as his medical team is “cautiously optimistic.” Conley said the doctors would continue to administer Remdesivir treatments and monitor the president’s status.
Trump released his first video from the hospital on Saturday evening to give an update on his health.
President Trump, in his video message shared on Twitter and Facebook, said he felt his condition had improved over the past day but acknowledged that he was not yet out of the woods.
Speaking from the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Trump said the next few days would be the “real test.”
“I came here. Wasn’t feeling so well. I feel much better now,” Trump said in the four-minute video clip.
Sitting behind a desk and wearing a blue jacket and a white dress shirt, Trump added: “We’re working hard to get me all the way back. I have to be back because we still have to make America great again.”
He thanked his supporters and leaders from around the world who sent messages of good wishes to him.
He also updated the nation on the condition of First lady Melania Trump, saying she was doing very well and prompted him to say something to the nation out of respect for the American people and the country.
But Trump is not out of the woods, according to an unsigned statement released to reporters on Saturday.
The source, speaking almost immediately after the President’s physician told a press briefing he was doing very well, said the next 48 hours would be critical for President Donald Trump
Coronavirus has killed about 210,000 Americans and infected more than 7.3 million people in the United States, according to the Johns Hopkins University virus tracker.
And even with the worst death toll in the world, about 200,000 more Americans are at risk of dying between now and January 1, according to a model developed by the Washington State University.
Yet, Mr. Trump, 74, overweight and at risk of dying from the virus, has repeatedly downplayed the risks of the coronavirus, by his own admission in a conversation was Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward.
He has repeatedly mocked those who wear masks or hold small campaign events to curtail the spread of the virus, as he did this week during his debate against Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.
Apart from downplaying the pandemic, Mr. Trump has at times deflected attention to China and the World Health Organization, even though he knew as early as January, by his own admission, that the coronavirus was deadly, and even though he was warned the various could define his presidency.
In public, Trump told the American people the virus was not dangerous, that it would soon disappear, that it affects only the elderly, that there was no risk for virtually all other people.
He pushed for the economy and school to fully reopen even though the virus was escalating in various parts of the country.
Mr. Trump also frequently sidelined his own health officials, telling a press briefing recently the director of the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention Robert Redfield did not know what he was talking about. He also frequently attacked infection disease expert Anthony Fauci and ferociously attacked the World Health Organization (WHO) director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
His refusal to wear masks and his constant attacks against mask wearing led to millions of people refusing to wear them, with some dying in the process.
While Trump can afford the best treatment as the President of the United States, many other Americans who contract the virus cannot.
President Trump was administered supplemental oxygen on Friday at the White House, a source familiar with the President’s health told The Associated Press on Saturday, also after his doctor painted a rosy picture of how the President was doing.https://www.youtube.com/embed/jQ7Pau4x_rU?feature=oembed&enablejsapi=1
The source said Trump was administered oxygen at the White House on Friday before he was transported to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
The person was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
That other information came shortly after an official released an anonymous statement, saying President Trump was “not on a path to full recovery.”
The unsigned statement was released to pool White House reporters who usually travel with the President.
The official said the next 48 hours would be critical, adding that the past 24 hours were “very concerning.”
That was not the picture the President’s physician painted at the military hospital where Trump is hospitalized just outside Washington DC.
Physician Sean Conley said on Saturday that President Trump “is doing very well.”
“The team and I are extremely happy at the progress the President has made,” he said.
Conley spoke to reporters at a military hospital where Trump is being hospitalized right outside Washington DC.
Conley said Trump has been free of fever in the past 24 hours. He said Trump was not on oxygen at the moment.
He quoted Trump as saying that he felt he could “walk out of it today.”
He said Trump was on remdesivir and would be on it for the next few days.
President Trump announced on Friday morning he and First Lady Melania Trump had tested positive for the novel coronavirus.
Three Republican Senators have also tested positive for the deadly bug. Senators Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) both said on Friday that they had tested positive for COVID-19. Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) announced on Saturday that he too had tested positive for the novel coronavirus.
Trump’s senior adviser, Hope Hicks, has also tested positive for coronavirus.
Former Trump’s adviser Kellyanne Conway also announced on Friday she had tested positive for the coronavirus.
Three journalists have also tested positive for the virus in the past two days alone.
Several also other positive results have been announced in the past two days alone, including the former governor of New Jersey Chris Christie.
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