WASHINGTON – Some answers emerged Saturday on President Donald Trump’s condition as he battles the coronavirus, but Trump’s medical team withheld some key information in their first full, televised update.
Here’s what we know and what we don’t know:
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WHAT WE KNOW
Trump received supplemental oxygen at the White House on Friday before he was taken to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, a person familiar with the president’s condition said Saturday. The person was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
Trump’s medical team gave its first news conference since he fell ill. Navy Commander Dr. Sean Conley said Trump had been fever-free for 24 hours. Conley said that Trump’s symptoms, including a cough and nasal congestion, “are now resolving and improving.”
Trump has now been treated with two experimental drugs, given through an IV, that have shown some promise against COVID-19, doctors disclosed.
On Friday, he was given a single dose of a drug that Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. is testing to supply antibodies to help his immune system fight the virus. Friday night, he began a five-day course of remdesivir, a Gilead Sciences drug currently used for moderately and severely ill patients.
Conley, in his briefing, revealed that Trump began exhibiting “clinical indications” of COVID-19 on Thursday afternoon, earlier than previously known.
White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said some of Trump’s vital signs Friday were “very concerning” and added that the next 48 hours will be critical in terms of his care.
In the larger political circle around Trump, aides for a third Republican senator, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, announced Saturday that Johnson had positive test results for the coronavirus.
WHAT WE DON’T KNOW
Conley sidestepped repeated questions about whether the president had needed supplemental oxygen at any point. He said Trump’s blood oxygen level is 96%, which is in the normal range.
And asked for the president’s vital signs, Conley failed to provide any of Trump’s temperature readings. That could indicate how serious the president’s condition was, a measurement the public didn’t get as Trump spent his first full day at Walter Reed.
The questions that were dodged in official accounts raise questions whether the White House and his medical team were providing a full and factual account of the president’s health.