Coronavirus: ‘Shameful, insane’: medics cane Donald Trump’s hospital outing
Doctors have lashed Donald Trump’s hospital outing, saying he put his Security Service at ‘needless’ risk of catching Covid.
Donald Trump’s protocol-breaking drive-by to “surprise” supporters has sparked an angry backlash from the medical community who said he had put his Security Service at risk of catching the coronavirus.
Mr Trump was masked as he waved from inside his bulletproof vehicle during the short trip outside Walter Reed military medical centre near Washington, which appeared designed to take back the narrative on his improving health after a weekend of muddled messaging from his doctors.
But experts complained that the outing broke his own government’s public health guidelines requiring patients to isolate while they are being treated for the virus, and endangered his Secret Service protection.
Before leaving the hospital, Mr Trump said in a video posted on Twitter that he now “understands” coronavirus, adding he had learned a lot about the infectious disease.
But health experts took to the airwaves and social media to criticise the “stunt,” which they said demonstrated that he had learned nothing at all.
Dr James Phillips, an attending physician at Walter Reed, and chief of disaster medicine at George Washington University. tweeted: “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. For political theatre. Commanded by Trump to put their lives at risk for theatre. This is insanity.”
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. For political theater. Commanded by Trump to put their lives at risk for theater. This is insanity.
— Dr. James P. Phillips, MD (@DrPhillipsMD) October 4, 2020
He added: “That presidential SUV is not only bullet proof but hermetically sealed against chemical attack. The risk of COVID-19 transmission inside is as high as it gets outside of medical procedures. The irresponsibility is astounding. My thoughts are with the Secret Service forced to play.”
That Presidential SUV is not only bulletproof, but hermetically sealed against chemical attack. The risk of COVID19 transmission inside is as high as it gets outside of medical procedures. The irresponsibility is astounding. My thoughts are with the Secret Service forced to play.
— Dr. James P. Phillips, MD (@DrPhillipsMD) October 4, 2020
White House spokesman Judd Deere said “appropriate” precautions had been taken to protect Mr Trump and his support staff, including protective gear.
“The movement was cleared by the medical team as safe to do,” he added.
But Zeke Emanuel, chair of the Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy at the University of Pennsylvania and regular TV pundit, described the appearance as “shameful.” “Making his Secret Service agents drive with a COVID-19 patient, with windows up no less, put them needlessly at risk for infection. And for what? A PR stunt,” he tweeted.
Trump's irresponsibility is seemingly endless.
— Zeke Emanuel (@ZekeEmanuel) October 4, 2020
Making his Secret Service agents drive with a COVID-19 patient, with windows up no less, put them needlessly at risk for infection.
And for what? A PR stunt.
It's shameful. These agents already risk their lives daily. https://t.co/fyIcbJc6aR
Mr Trump made the trip outside after announcing on Twitter a “surprise visit” to his backers.
Seen in a dark face mask, waving to crowds, the president’s motorcade rolled past before returning to the Walter Reed military hospital near Washington.
“We’re going to pay a little surprise to some of the great patriots that we have out on the street,” Mr Trump said in a video posted to Twitter shortly before his appearance.
“I’m about to make a little surprise visit.” Trump also said he “learned a lot about Covid” by “really going to school,” as he has battled the virus in hospital.
“This is the real school. This isn’t the ‘let’s read the books school’, and I get it, and I understand it, and it’s a very interesting thing,” he added.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 4, 2020
Earlier his doctors said the President could be released from hospital as early as Tuesday (AEST) if his condition continues to improve, but doctors also said the president had experienced two sudden drops in oxygen in recent days.
He was also treated with a steroid usually reserved for patients with serious coronavirus symptoms.
Doctors confirmed for the first time that Mr Trump, who was taken to Walter Reed on Friday after a positive COVID-19 diagnosis, had experienced more serious symptoms in the first 48 hours after his diagnosis than they previously admitted.
After a weekend of mixed messaging on Mr Trump’s condition from Mr Trump’s staff and medical team, Dr Sean Conley revealed the president received supplementary oxygen at the White House on Saturday (AEST) before he was taken to hospital.
They said that while in hospital on Sunday he had experienced renewed fever and another sudden fall in oxygen, but he ‘has continued to improve” since then.
The president’s doctors also said he had been treated with dexamethasone. The generic drug is a commonly used steroid that has been shown to help severely ill COVID-19 patients. The World Health Organization last month issued updated guidelines recommending steroid treatment in patients with severe or critical COVID-19, including patients with difficulty breathing and those requiring oxygen support with a ventilator or face mask. The WHO recommended not to use steroids in treating patients with non-severe COVID-19.
Dr Conley was asked to explain the mixed messaging about the president’s health on Sunday and admitted he was trying to present a more rosy picture to be “upbeat” about the situation.
“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,” Dr 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.”
The president’s chief of staff Mark Meadows had revealed that the president’s initial vital signs after diagnosis had been “very concerning” and that “we’re still not on a clear path to full recovery.”
Another member of the president’s medical team, Dr Brian Garibaldi, said on Monday the president had completed his second dose of Remdesivir and had begun dexamethasone therapy.
“If he continues to look and feel as well as he does today, our hope is that we can plan for a discharge as early as tomorrow to the White House where he can continue his treatment course,” Dr Garibaldi said.
Mr Trump addressed the public in a four-minute video posted to Twitter on Saturday, saying he was feeling much better and added that he wants to recover quickly so he can finish the presidential campaign. The president said he had no choice but to be out in public during the pandemic, explaining that he was willing to take the risk of contracting the coronavirus to continue leading the country. “I can’t be locked up in a room upstairs,” he said.
The president’s illness, which will keep him from the campaign trail for at least two weeks, has forced the Trump campaign to reassess how it keeps rolling without the president.
“We think it’s important that our campaign vigorously proceed,” senior Trump campaign adviser Steve Cortes said. “The MAGA (Make America Great Again) movement is bigger than just President Trump. He’s instrumental, of course, but he’s not the only key element of the MAGA movement.”
“This president is going to recover. We are highly confident of that.”
White House aides said Mr Trump was continuing to work and was scheduled to receive a national-security briefing from Walter Reed on Sunday, officials said. The White House also distributed photographs that it said showed Mr Trump working from Walter Reed.
White House national-security adviser Robert O’Brien said Sunday that the administration wasn’t taking steps to transfer power to Vice President Mike Pence. “No, that’s not something that’s on the table at this point,” he said on CBS News’s “Face the Nation.”
Mr Pence and members of the Trump family will continue to campaign around the country for the president.
The Trump campaign has also been hit by a series of coronavirus infections among key campaign advisers including Hope Hicks, Kelly Anne Conway, Chris Christie as well as campaign manager Bill Stepien and Republican National Committee chairwoman Ronna McDaniel.
It comes at a bad time for the campaign as new polls show Mr Trump’s Democrat opponent Joe Biden increasing his lead in the polls in the wake of the raucous first presidential debate last week.
Mr Trump was widely seen to have performed poorly in the debate and this is now being reflected in the latest polls.
A new Wall Street Journal/NBC poll, taken after the debate, but before Mr Trump was diagnosed with COVID-19, found Mr Biden leading the president by 14 points, 53 per cent to 39 per cent. This compares with an 8 point lead last month and is the largest lead so far in the campaign.
Mr Biden’s national lead over the president on the RealClear Politics poll average has also increased slightly from 7.4 to 8.1 points, his biggest lead in two months.
The confirmation process for Supreme County nominee Judge Amy Barrett has also been thrown into doubt after three Republican Senators tested positive for the coronavirus last weekend.
Two of those Senators, Mike Lee and Thom Tillis, are on the Senate Judiciary Committee which is due to begin confirmation hearings for Judge Barrett on October 12.
Another member of that committee, Democrat Senator Amy Klobuchar said the outbreak of the virus among Senators meant that the confirmation hearings should be delayed.
“It’s very possible we’re going to have more senators, more staff” test positive in the days ahead, she said, given that Republicans often “have a lunch together where they don’t have masks.”
“So, I don’t know why you would ram through this Supreme Court hearing, put people in danger. … I just think it’s wrong. We are suggesting that we wait.”
Democrats are opposed to confirming Judge Barrett, a conservative nominee, before the November 3 election, saying that the winner of the poll should choose the next Supreme Court justice.
(Cameron Stewart is also US Contributor for Sky News Australia)
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