President Donald Trump will be discharged from Walter Reed Medical Center on Monday evening, according to his medical team.
Trump was taken to Walter Reed Medical Center late Friday after testing positive for Covid-19. The President confirmed he and his wife Melania tested positive for the virus via a tweet early Friday.
On Monday, Trump tweeted that he would be heading back to the White House and was “feeling really good.”
“Don’t be afraid of COVID. Don’t let it dominate your life. We have developed under the Trump Administration some really great drugs & knowledge. I feel better than I did 20 years ago.”
I will be leaving the great Walter Reed Medical Center today at 6:30 P.M. Feeling really good! Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don’t let it dominate your life. We have developed, under the Trump Administration, some really great drugs & knowledge. I feel better than I did 20 years ago!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 5, 2020
Trump’s doctor said he is “eager” to leave the hospital after responding well to a treatment regimen that included the antiviral drug Remdesivir, an antibody cocktail, and a steroid: dexamethasone.
The use of dexamethasone, a potent steroid, along with other treatments led to speculation that Trump’s condition was much worse than doctors initially revealed.
But steroids are routinely given to Covid patients who experience respiratory symptoms such as cough or mild shortness of breath. The drug suppresses a severe inflammatory response of the immune system called a “cytokine storm.”
A cytokine storm is an uncontrolled response by the immune system that overwhelms the lungs and the heart, resulting in death. Doctors don’t know why some Covid patients succumb to a cytokine storm, while other Covid patients experience no symptoms at all.
Trump’s doctor confirmed he was given oxygen for about an hour at the White House on Friday when his oxygen saturation level dropped twice to 90 percent.
Remdesivir has not been approved to treat coronavirus or COVID-19. Special permission was given for Trump to receive the drug. He completed 3 doses of Remdesivir over the weekend and he is expected to complete his 4th dose before leaving the hospital today.
