Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
'Symptom-Free' For 24 Hours, Trump Taking Remdesivir, Steroids For COVID
President Trumpās recovery from a Covid-19 infection continued to progress, the White Houseās top doctor said Wednesday, even as key details about the presidentās health and his potential return to the campaign trail remained unclear. Mr. Trump had gone 24 hours without any coronavirus symptoms, Dr. Sean Conley said in a memo released by the White House. The president hadnāt had a fever in four days, his oxygen saturation and respiratory rate were stable and in normal range, and blood work on Monday showed ādetectable levelsā of Covid-19 antibodies, Dr. Conley said. (Bender, 10/7)
President Trump reports feeling āgreatā and experiencing no symptoms less than six days after being diagnosed with the novel coronavirus, according to a memo from the White House physician issued Wednesday. āThe President this morning says āI feel great!ā His physical exam and vital signs, including oxygen saturation and respiratory rate, all remain stable and in normal range,ā White House physician Sean Conley wrote in the memo released Wednesday afternoon. (Chalfant, 10/7)
President Donald Trump has required personnel at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center to sign nondisclosure agreements before they could be involved with treating him, according to four people familiar with the process. During a surprise trip to Walter Reed on Nov. 16, 2019, Trump mandated signed NDAs from both physicians and nonmedical staff, most of whom are active-duty military service members, these people said. At least two doctors at Walter Reed who refused to sign the NDAs were subsequently not permitted to have any involvement in the president's care, two of the people said. (Lee and Kube, 10/8)
The White House again refused on Wednesday to say when President Trump last tested negative for the novel coronavirus, leaving open the possibility that he potentially exposed dozens of people to the deadly virus before the announcement of his positive test early Friday. Trump attended several events last week ā including a presidential debate against Democratic nominee Joe Biden, a campaign rally and an in-person fundraiser ā where he could have potentially exposed people to the coronavirus if he was infectious at that time. The disease has killed more than 210,000 Americans. (Olorunnipa, Dawsey and Parker, 10/7)
White House officials andĀ theĀ president's physician have refused to disclose when President Trump last tested negative for COVID-19, aĀ key detailĀ that has implications for how long the presidentĀ could be infectious and who else he might have exposed to the highly contagious virus. The White House has said Trump's first positive test result came back Thursday. He is known to haveĀ shown symptoms Friday, includingĀ fatigue and fever, and required supplemental oxygen. But the timeline remains fuzzy beyond that. (Samuels, 10/7)
Wednesday had all the trappings of a typical day at the Trump White House. There was a morning flurry of all-caps tweets from President Donald Trump. From his residence, Trump cycled through his favorite subjects ā he wanted his political opponents jailed, Democrats were ruining the balloting system, etc. Then, in the early afternoon, Trump descended to the Oval Office to get briefings on a brewing hurricane and congressional negotiations. ... Yet each of those developments was infused with the surreality of the moment. Trumpās tweet storm was not just seen as āTrump being Trump.ā It caused some, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, to wonder whether the steroids Trump took as part of his coronavirus treatment were fueling his all-caps tweetfest. (McGraw, 10/7)
In related news ā
While the American public is relying on White House physician Sean Conley and other officials to disclose the latest information about Trump's health, the Kremlin may be listening in on private conversations between the president and his outside advisers, as well as conversations among his family members and even his doctors.Ā And with several top Trump staffers working from home after contracting COVID-19 or being exposed to the virus, the White House's communications may be particularly vulnerable, said said Carol "Rollie" Flynn, a 30-year CIA veteran who is now president of the Foreign Policy Research Institute, a nonpartisan think tank.Ā "I would hope that ... the operational security of his doctors is good, and they're not chatting about his diagnosis on the telephones," Flynn said. "But if they are, it's very likelyĀ the Russian may know more than we do." (Shesgreen, 10/7)
Hereās an assignment to humble even the most confident doctor: Assess a patientās condition before millions of people without being able to examine him or see a complete medical chart. That, in effect, is what medical experts at news organizations have been asked to do since President Donald Trump revealed Friday that he had tested positive for COVID-19.They have a fine line to walk, needing to decide what level of speculation ā if any ā that theyāre comfortable with, how much to read into medications the president has been prescribed and how to explain the course of a virus so new that it still confounds the people who study it. (Bauder, 10/8)