President Donald Trump's personal physician said today Trump may be released from the hospital and return to the White House as early as tomorrow, after receiving medical treatment for Covid-19.
In a weekend marked by strikingly contradictory statements about Trump's health, White House physician Dr Sean Conley said today the 74-year-old president is "doing really well" and responding to treatment.
"We are going to start discharge planning back to the White House," Conley said in a midday briefing.
Conley said Trump has twice experienced drops in his blood oxygen content, although his blood oxygen level was back up to normal levels today.
Trump is being administered the antiviral remdesivir, as well as an experimental monoclonal antibody therapy and the steroid dexamethasone.
Today, Trump took a short drive near the hospital to wave at well-wishers.
Trump was transported to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, on 2 October after suffering a high fever and being given supplemental oxygen. Doctors said today Trump has not run a fever since 2 October, and that his vital signs are stable.
Conley on 3 October had described Trump as "doing very well" and said he had only been taken to the hospital as a "precautionary measure." He dodged questions that day about whether Trump had been administered oxygen.
But White House chief of staff Mark Meadows told reporters in the White House press pool that Trump's vital signs had been "very concerning" and that the subsequent 48 hours would be critical. "We are still not on a clear path to a full recovery," Meadows said that day.
Conley insisted today that Meadows' statement had been "misconstrued." And when asked why he had refused the previous day to say whether Trump had been administered oxygen, Conley he was "trying to reflect the upbeat attitude that the team, the president, that his course of illness has had. I did not want to give any information that might steer the course in another direction."
Conley acknowledged that "it came off that we were trying to hide something, which was not necessarily true."
Conley also had suggested that Trump's diagnosis had occurred earlier than once thought but later issued a clarification.
The White House on 3 October released photos of Trump writing at a table and looking at documents with the caption "President Donald J. Trump works from Walter Reed."
Trump also tweeted out a video on 3 October saying he was "starting to feel good" and that he looked "forward to finishing up the campaign the way it started."
Trump's positive Covid-19 test last week weighed on equity and commodity markets, helping drive crude prices down. His diagnosis added even more uncertainty to efforts at passing more conoronavirus economic stimulus, but over the weekend the White House urged lawmakers to pass a bill.
