Donald Trump COVID-19 infection: US Election like a Hollywood movie
The US presidential election is looking more like a Hollywood blockbuster by the day. The trailer almost scripts itself: A global pandemic. An infected president. A nation on the brink of civil unrest. Cue swelling soundtrack, writes James Morrow.
Opinion
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The 2020 presidential election is looking more like a Hollywood blockbuster by the day.
The trailer almost scripts itself: A global pandemic. An infected president. A nation on the brink of civil unrest.
And an experimental drug that could save the world — with the commander-in-chief its number one guinea pig.
Cue swelling soundtrack.
On Monday, Australians woke to footage of Donald Trump taking a ride in the back of a Secret Service SUV to wave to supporters gathered outside the Walter Reed Medical Centre near Washington since the president’s admission to the hospital on Saturday.
It was a controversial move that had some commentators calling it a reckless stunt that could have put Secret Service agents at risk.
“This is insanity,” tweeted Dr James P Phillips, an attending physician at the hospital.
“Every single person in the vehicle during that completely unnecessary presidential ‘drive-by’ just now has to be quarantined for 14 days. They might get sick. They may die.”
Shortly after the motorcade there was a notable spike in share markets around the globe reassured the president was not at death’s door.
As well as his impromptu drive, a noticeably stronger Mr Trump also released a second video from Walter Reed commenting on his condition saying: “I’ve 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. I get it. I understand it. It’s a very interesting thing and I’m going to be letting you know about it.”
Mr Trump’s physician Dr Sean Conley told reporters Monday: “He’s doing really well … he is responding. If everything continues to go well, we’re going to start discharge planning back to the White House.”
According to his physicians, Mr Trump has been placed on a regimen that contains standard treatments for COVID — including remdesivir and dexamethasone — but also an experimental drug known as a monoclonal antibody cocktail.
Mr Trump is one of only 10 people around the world to receive the largely untested but promising treatment, known as REGN-COV2 and created by Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, under a rare “compassionate use” exemption.
Should the treatment work on Mr Trump, it will not only mark perhaps the most high-stakes, high-profile pharmaceutical trial in history, but it could lead to treatments to help the world get back to normal — even before a vaccine.
“If they are successful, monoclonal antibodies are really going to revolutionise treatment for COVID-19,” Dr Larry Corey, former director of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre, said.