Donald Trump has been cleared by White House doctors to return to public engagements on Saturday after completing Covid-19 therapy on Thursday.
Dr Sean Conley said it would be 10 days since the president’s initial diagnosis on 1 October, and that Mr Trump has not shown any symptoms of coronavirus since leaving Walter Reed Medical Centre on Monday.
In a statement released late on Thursday, Mr Conley said Mr Trump responded to the experimental antibody cocktail and steroid treatment without evidence of adverse effects.
“Since returning home, his physical exam has remained stable and devoid of any indications to suggest progression of illness,” Mr Conley said.
Returning to public engagements on Saturday would give the president 24 days of campaigning ahead of the 3 November election.
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While Mr Conley cleared Mr Trump for return to public on Saturday, 10 October, he said earlier in the week that the medical team wouldn’t breath a “sigh of relief” until next week.
“If we can get through to Monday with him remaining the same or improving, better yet, then we will all take that final deep sigh of relief,” he said when announcing the president’s release from hospital.
On Thursday, however, he said the president had responded “extremely well” to the therapeutics, which included the anti-viral remdesivir, an experimental antibody cocktail from Regeneron, and the steroid dexamethasone, which can reduce fevers.
“Based on the trajectory of advanced diagnostics the team has been conducting, I fully anticipate the president’s safe return to public engagements at that time,” Mr Conley said.
Mr Trump said in an interview with Fox Business on Thursday morning that he doesn’t think he’s contagious anymore, saying the virus “would have gone away by itself”.
“I think I’m better to the point where I’d love to do a rally tonight,” Mr Trump said. ““I don’t think I’m contagious at all.”
Dr Anthony Fauci, the White House coronavirus taskforce’s infectious disease expert, said it was still possible the president could have a reversal and downturn.
“He certainly looks good and apparently feels good,” Mr Fauci said during an interview on MSNBC.
“One of the issues that we all need to be aware, and his physicians are aware of this, that the history of Covid-19 is that you could look and feel like you’re doing reasonably well and after a couple of days you could have a downturn, namely have a reversal. That’s possible,” he said on MSNBC on Thursday.
He said Trump would have to goes 10 days without symptoms and return two negative “PCR” lab tests, which detect the virus from swabs in the nose and throat, within 24 hours.
“So, if the president goes 10 days without symptoms, and they do the tests that we were talking about, then you could make the assumption, based on good science, that he is not infected,” he said.
