Trump greets supporters while undergoing steroid, experimental drug treatment

川普在接受實驗性抗體藥物治療時向支持者致意

At least eight people who were in close proximity to president over past week have tested positive for coronavirus


TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — President Donald Trump, while infected and contagious with coronavirus, briefly ventured out in a motorcade on Sunday (Oct. 4) to greet supporters outside the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.

According to the Associated Press, hours earlier Trump’s medical team reported that his blood oxygen level had dropped twice in recent days and that he was given a steroid typically given to seriously ill COVID-19 patients. Trump’s physicians said the president’s health is improving and that he could be discharged as early as Monday.

At a Sunday press conference, Dr. Sean Conley, the president’s physician, said Trump experienced two drops in oxygen saturation levels, The Wall Street Journal reported. The first instance occurred late Friday morning (Oct. 2) before he was admitted to the hospital when it dropped below 94 percent, and he was given supplemental oxygen for about an hour, while the second drop came on Saturday (Oct. 3) when the president’s oxygen level fell to 93 percent.

The president’s doctors also said that Trump had been given the steroid dexamethasone, a generic drug commonly used to help severely ill coronavirus patients. The 74-year-old president is currently also on a five-day course of the antiviral drug remdesivir, which is being used to treat hospitalized COVID-19 patients.

Trump has also been given an experimental antibody treatment produced by Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, according to The Washington Post. Around 2,000 people have been given the drug or a placebo as the treatment goes through clinical trials; however, Trump was able to get the drug under the “compassionate use” program.

The president’s physicians also said on Sunday that Trump’s vital signs were stable, that he was not experiencing shortness of breath, and that he has been fever-free since Friday.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Sunday evening Trump posted a video on Twitter saying he would make a “little surprise visit” to his supporters outside Walter Reed. “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 books school. And I get it and I understand it,” Trump said in the video.

Not long after the recorded message was posted to Twitter, videos posted online showed the president riding in the back of an SUV waving to supporters outside the hospital with two Secret Service agents wearing personal protective equipment sitting in the front of the vehicle.

At least eight people who were in close proximity to the president over the past week have tested positive for coronavirus, including first lady Melania Trump, former senior White House adviser Kellyanne Conway, Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien, and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, The Wall Street Journal reported.