president trump is due to leave hospital
in just over an hour's time after his
medical team said he could return to the
white house
where he'll continue treatment donald
trump's personal physician
said he wasn't entirely out of the woods
yet but they were cautiously optimistic
just before doctors gave their update
donald trump took to twitter
to tell people that he was feeling great
better than he did 20 years ago
and he said people shouldn't be afraid
of coronavirus
our north america editor john sopple is
at the white house for us now john
he also said don't let it dominate your
lives despite two hundred and ten
thousand americans
having died from the disease and he's
also had the most expensive and
experimental drugs treatment available
that simply wouldn't be there for most
ordinary americans
he arrives back in an hour and a half
after three nights in hospital
a stay that was not uncontroversial
it's being dubbed the kovid joy ride
last night the president who's still
infectious decided he wanted to wave to
his supporters outside the walter reed
hospital
the six-lane highway was cleared secret
service guards fanned out
and then the unmistakable sight of the
presidential motorcade
moving towards where we were standing
this is quite an unbelievable scene the
president who's being treated for
coronavirus
part of his convoy has just come down
this busy road all traffic has been
cleared
and the president is waving at his
supporters
to say thank you for coming out to back
him
while he is meant to be in the hospital
and you can see all the vehicles
of a presidential convoy accompanying
the president
donald trump probably the world's most
impatient patient
even released a video it's been a very
interesting journey i learned a lot
about covid
i learned it by really going to school
this is the real school
this isn't the let's read the book
school and i get it and i understand it
the former reality tv star always has an
eye for the visual
but the drive-by brought ferocious
criticism from one of the coveted
physicians at the hospital
dr james phillips tweeted every single
person in the vehicle
during that completely unnecessary
presidential drive by just now
has to quarantine for 14 days they might
get sick
they may die for political theatre
commanded by trump
to put their lives at risk for theater
this is
insanity and you'll see him uh shortly
you know
he's he's back the president's returning
to the white house tonight
though he'll still require treatment and
his doctors say
he's not yet out of the woods we all
remain
cautiously optimistic and on guard
because we're in a bit of unchartered
territory when it comes to a patient
that received the therapies he has so
early in the course
he's still on powerful steroids but this
morning it looked as though it was his
twitter feed that was on amphetamines
the campaign for next month's
presidential election is all systems go
as he went full caps lock on a whole
variety of policy issues
today campaigning in florida the
democratic candidate joe biden was
speaking to reporters
although his wife jill ensuring that he
maintained social distancing
i'm sorry i'm not an expert on it but i
think we should be
very cautious as i've thought all along
and i'm going to continue to listen to
the to the scientists
meanwhile it's been announced that the
president's press secretary kelly
mcinerney
is the latest to test positive for
coronavirus
she's been speaking to reporters over
the weekend taking off her mask to
discuss the president's health
following his diagnosis astonishingly
the white house itself
has become the epicenter of a major
coveted outbreak
john sopel bbc news washington
well as john was saying the president
has been given aggressive
covet treatments that doctors are
calling uncharted
territory they include a cocktail of
antibodies
the antiviral drug rem de severe which
he'll continue to get at the white house
and the steroid dexamethasone which is
normally used when patients become
seriously ill
here's our medical editor fergus wash
it seems the president's doctors have
thrown everything they can
at his infection but getting an exact
picture of his state of health
hasn't been easy the white house says
president trump and the first lady
tested positive for coronavirus on
thursday evening
his doctor said as a precautionary
measure he was given a one-off
infusion a cocktail of monoclonal
antibodies
this is an experimental treatment by
biotech firm regeneron
designed to reduce viral load it's
promising
but there's no proof it works clinical
trials are just starting in the uk
by late friday morning mr trump had a
high fever
and his oxygen saturation levels had
dipped to 93 percent
just below the normal lower limit of 95
percent
and he was given oxygen for about an
hour
my experience from looking after
patients it typically presents a
hospital
after being unwell at home for about
five to seven days
it's around that sort of time that they
start to need
oxygen so it's entirely possible uh that
donald trump
may have been on well or had an
infection
in the background for a few days before
he tested positive from before came into
hospital
later on friday president trump was
flown to walter reed hospital
there he was given a second drug rem
dissevier
this is an antiviral which was approved
in may
as a covid19 therapy a five-day
treatment
it's been shown to speed up recovery and
is used
widely in the u.s on saturday
the president was started on the steroid
dexamethasone
this works by dampening the body's
immune system
which can go haywire with covid19 and
it reduces inflammation in the body it's
been shown to help the sickest covid
patients
those in hospital on oxygen or a
ventilator
but it's not recommended for patients
with mild symptoms
if you wanted to divide these things as
with a straight line down the middle
you'd say
on oxygen or on a ventilator give
dexamethasone
not on oxygen not on a ventilator don't
give dexamethasone
but that's rather more black and white
than the subtlety of uh
of a one-on-one clinical conversation
decision
covered patients who appear to be
getting better can sometimes take a turn
for the worse
several days into the infection so the
president's doctors won't relax
until he's fully recovered fergus bbc
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