NEWS DIGEST 11.10.2020: The latest on Donald Trump’s COVID diagnosis

Good morning everyone. Today’s news digest comes to you via Google News. Take a look at what some leading media outlets in the UK and US have been reporting on regarding the news last week that the American president, Donald Trump, alongside First Lady and his wife, Melania, were diagnosed with COVID-19 (coronavirus). They received treatment and the president has already returned to official details as the country’s presidential elections near.

Britain’s The Guardian reports that president Trump has been given the all-clear by a staff doctor attached to his official residence, the White House. The doctor, Sean Conley, said that Trump is no longer at risk of transmitting the virus, but did not say whether the president had now tested negative – Global report: Trump no longer a Covid transmission risk, says doctor; India passes 7m cases (The Guardian)

The Telegraph also reported on the president’s diagnosis via YouTube, releasing a video of Trump’s official public address on the results. He said that he had now been retested and was “either at the bottom of the scale or free” of the virus. This was his first television appearance since he was released from a stay at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, US last week. He also added that he felt ‘very strong’ and was no longer taking medication – Donald Trump: ‘I’m medication-free’ | Coronavirus (The Telegraph/YouTube GB)

Donald Trump also held his first public rally yesterday since his hospital stay, where he told a crowd of supporters he was feeling great. The event was originally billed as a ‘peaceful protest’ but critics of the president said it had all the appearance of one of the president’s notorious campaign rallies. BBC News reported that it was “unclear whether the president remains contagious following his three-day hospital stay”. The event was said to have been organised by the Blexit foundation, a campaign group which is pro-Trump and aims to get more ethnic minority voters, particularly from African American/black and Latino/a backgrounds, to support the Republican party, whom Trump is the leader of. Trump spent much time at the rally railing against his rival Joe Biden, describing the opposition front-runner’s policies as ‘almost Communist’ – White House rally: Trump holds first public event since Covid diagnosis (BBC News)

USA Today, one of America’s leading nationally-oriented mainstream publications, covered the news with an opinion piece accusing the country’s president of withholding facts on his diagnosis, causing widespread speculation as to what exactly is going on with him. The article mentioned reports that Trump developed secondary pneumonia from COVID-19 and that the president’s physician was selective in his release of information to the public about Trump’s health. The USA Today article was written by two medical professionals, Drs. Ezekiel Emanuel and Vin Gupta – Trump’s COVID prognosis: 3 scenarios based on sparse facts from an opaque White House (USA Today Opinion)

UK tabloid The Sun also covered a similar angle to The Guardian as mentioned earlier in this post, saying that Trump is no longer being considered a Covid transmission risk to others, but with a staff doctor (possibly Dr. Conley) remaining tight-lipped on whether he is truly free of the virus. The White House released an official memo yesterday that stated the president was now recovered, and would no longer need to self-isolate. The president himself was said to have permitted the release of the memo by Conley. In the memo, the doctor wrote: “This evening I am happy to report that in addition to the President meeting CDC criteria for the safe discontinuation of isolation, this morning’s COVID PCR sample demonstrates, by currently recognized standards, he is no longer a transmission risk to others,” He added: “Now at day 10 from symptom onset, fever-free for well-over 24 hours and all symptoms improved, the assortment of advanced diagnostic tests obtained reveal there is no longer evidence of actively replicating virus.” Conley wrote that subsequent testing of Trump from the onset of the virus show “decreased viral loads that correlate with increasing cycle threshold times, as well as decreasing and now undetectable subgenomic mRNA.” – DON THE MEND Trump is ‘no longer Covid transmission risk to others’ – but doc won’t say if he’s tested negative (The Sun)

Happy 15th birthday Shafi!!

Advertisement