When did Trump know he had Covid-19? His prognosis might have come 72 hours sooner than we thought

Docs giving a routine replace on President Donald Trump’s well being on Saturday indicated that Trump might have examined optimistic for Covid-19 sooner than the White Home beforehand reported.

This new data throws the White Home’s complete timeline of occasions into dispute, elevating the query of whether or not Trump knew he was optimistic when he traveled to Minnesota for a marketing campaign rally and personal fundraiser.

“We at the moment are 72 hours into this prognosis for President Trump,” Dr. Sean Conley stated shortly earlier than midday on Saturday — and simply 36 hours after Trump first tweeted that he had been confirmed optimistic for the virus.

When requested about this new timeline on the convention, Conley stated that White Home medical workers “repeated testing” on Thursday afternoon, after a “shut contact” acquired a optimistic end result. And the White Home stated afterward Saturday that Conley misspoke, and despatched a memo clarifying that he meant to say “day three” of the president’s sickness.

Additionally occluding the timeline was an announcement made by Dr. Brian Garibaldi, a pulmonologist, who advised reporters it had been 48 hours since Trump acquired an experimental antibody remedy; a earlier assertion from Conley appeared to point Trump had acquired the remedy on Friday.

Precisely what remedy the president has acquired up to now — and when — has been positioned unsure as nicely. On Saturday, Conley refused to reply definitively to questions on whether or not Trump has ever been on supplemental oxygen, repeating as a substitute that he’s not on oxygen “proper now” or “at the moment.”

Towards the top of the press convention, when a reporter requested whether or not Trump had acquired oxygen at any level on Thursday, Friday, or Saturday, Conley’s response was evasive: “Thursday, no oxygen; none at this second; and yesterday, with the staff, whereas we have been all right here, he was not on oxygen.”

The New York Instances’s Maggie Haberman and Peter Baker reported that Trump was, in reality, given oxygen forward of his journey to Walter Reed Nationwide Army Medical Heart on Friday, a report that was confirmed Saturday afternoon by the Related Press and others.

Additional complicating issues was an nameless supply telling reporters following Saturday’s press convention that the president’s situation over the previous 24 hours has been “very regarding,” and that recommended Trump is just not doing in addition to Conley has stated.

Saturday, Conley stated that the president’s medical staff is “extraordinarily blissful” with Trump’s development, noting that he not has a fever.

Dr. Sean Dooley, a essential care drugs specialist, stated that Trump’s coronary heart, liver, and kidney features are good, that he’s not presently on oxygen, and that he’s not having issue respiratory or strolling round.

“He’s in exceptionally good spirits,” Dooley added.

Trump echoed this optimism himself on Twitter Saturday afternoon, writing, “I’m feeling nicely!”

As Vox’s Zack Beauchamp has written, it’s troublesome to separate reality from fiction in terms of official statements on the president’s well being because of the administration’s behavior of mendacity about issues massive and small.

What’s identified for sure is Trump is at Walter Reed and is being taken care of by docs. He’s in three danger class elements for adversarial reactions to a Covid-19 an infection: male, over the age of 70, and with weight problems.

Conley acknowledged Saturday that it’s troublesome to say the place Trump is in his remedy course, however stated the staff will look towards the 7- to 10-day mark of the virus’s course, when a second section of signs typically proves difficult.

Within the meantime, he stated, Trump is receiving common lung scans and testing of his blood oxygen saturation. He declined to reply questions on when or from whom Trump is believed to have contracted the virus, saying that was immaterial to his remedy.

What we learn about when Trump examined optimistic for the coronavirus

Realizing when Trump turned contaminated is related to quite a few different essential elements, nevertheless, together with whether or not he knowingly interacted with supporters after a optimistic check end result, and in making an attempt to grasp whether or not officers have been telling the general public the reality concerning the president’s well being.

Throughout the press convention, Conley stated that Trump was examined for the virus on Thursday afternoon and acquired a optimistic check end result later that evening.

Others near Trump have additionally examined optimistic in current days, together with former senior White Home counselor Kellyanne Conway and Trump marketing campaign supervisor Invoice Stepien, together with others who attended an occasion on the White Home final week.

Trump’s spouse, Melania Trump, has additionally examined optimistic; at Saturday’s press convention, Conley stated she is “doing nice” and is convalescing at residence.

But when Trump was identified 72 hours earlier than Conley’s assertion, that will imply he was first confirmed optimistic for the virus on Wednesday at midday. He spent that day at a non-public fundraiser in Shorewood, Minnesota, and the night at an outside rally in close by Duluth.

He flew to and from the Twin Cities in Air Power One with a number of Republican lawmakers onboard.

And a optimistic check end result on Wednesday would imply that Trump allowed these lawmakers and supporters to be close to him — a few of them in sealed areas — understanding that he might be infectious.

The potential of the virus reaching the Oval Workplace was raised publicly when Hope Hicks, one in all Trump’s most senior aides, was confirmed to have Covid-19 on Thursday. She had traveled with Trump aboard Air Power One all through the week, together with to and from the Minnesota rally, the place she started exhibiting signs.

Shortly after reporters at Bloomberg broke that information, Trump stated in an interview with Fox Information that he had “simply heard” about Hicks’s optimistic check.

On Thursday evening, Trump tweeted that he would start the “quarantine course of.” Two hours later, he tweeted out his personal optimistic prognosis.

Trump was taken to Walter Reed shortly after 6 pm on Friday.

General, the transferring timelines Trump’s medical staff have launched make it laborious to inform how severe Trump’s situation may be — or who else may have doubtlessly been uncovered. Paired with Conley’s evasiveness on the query of remedy, together with the usage of supplemental oxygen and steroids, it’s troublesome to evaluate the state of the president’s well being one month out from Election Day.

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