President Donald Trump's condition is improving as he is treated for COVID-19 at a military hospital, and he could return to the White House as early as Monday (local time) where his treatment would continue, the doctors leading his treatment said on Sunday.
Doctors provided Trump supplemental oxygen twice during his battle with the lung disease, on Thursday and Friday, and have also given him dexamethasone, they told reporters.
Dr Sean Conley told reporters Trump was doing "really well" but did not offer any details on whether his lung scans showed damage, nor did he confirm if the President's oxygen saturation had dipped below 90 since his diagnosis.
"The fact of the matter is that he's doing really well," Conley said outside Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, where Trump has been receiving treatment since Friday.
Conley said the president had a "high fever" and a blood oxygen level below 94 percent on Friday and during "another episode" on Saturday. He was evasive when asked whether Trump's level had dropped below 90 percent. "We don't have any recordings here on that."
Conley also apologised for the conflicting information which caused widespread confusion over the President's health.
A White House team of doctors said on Saturday morning Trump's condition was improving and that he was already talking about returning to the White House.
Within minutes, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows gave reporters a less rosy assessment, saying, "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. We're still not on a clear path to a full recovery."
Meadows, whose initial comments were delivered on condition that he not be identified, altered his tone hours later, telling Reuters that Trump was doing "very well" and that "doctors are very pleased with his vital signs."
Conley told reporters outside the hospital on Saturday that Trump had not had trouble breathing, and was not given oxygen at Walter Reed.
On Sunday he admitted he was downplaying the severity of the President's illness.
"I was trying to reflect the upbeat attitude of the team, that the president, that his course of illness has had. Didn't want to give any information that might steer the course of illness in another direction," Conley said. "And in doing so, came off like we're trying to hide something, which wasn't necessarily true. The fact of the matter is that he's doing really well."
Trump has not run a fever since Friday and that his liver and kidney function remained normal after the second dose in a five-day course of Remdesivir, an intravenous antiviral drug sold by Gilead Sciences Inc GILD.O that has been shown to shorten hospital stays.
Dr Brian Garibaldi said Trump was given dexamethasone in response to "transient low oxygen levels."
"He received his first dose of that yesterday and our plan is to continue that for the time being," Garibaldi said.
Dexamethasone is shown in studies to improve survival for patients hospitalised with critical COVID-19 who need extra oxygen. But it should not be given in mild cases since it can limit the body's own ability to combat the virus, according to guidelines from the Infectious Disease Society of America.
Reuters.
