US President, Donald Trump has told Americans “to get out there” and not fear COVID-19 after he returned to the White House following three nights in a military hospital where he received experimental treatments to tackle a disease that has killed more than 210,000 Americans.
Trump, who is still infected with the virus and remains contagious, took off his mask to pose for pictures and salute from the balcony of the White House. He later tweeted a video capturing his return to Washington, DC, and a message to his supporters.
Trump said he felt “real good” about his return to the White House, where a number of cases have emerged since he and the First Lady were diagnosed last week. Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany, along with two assistants and three White House journalists are the latest to test positive.
Trump wore a mask as he got out of the helicopter that flew him back from the Walter Reed military hospital outside Washington, DC, but removed it after he climbed the stairs of the White House South Portico, where he posed for pictures, waving, saluting and giving thumbs-up signs.
He then turned to walk into the White House, filmed by a cameraman, his mask still in his pocket.
The Republican president, who is running for re-election against Democrat Joe Biden in the November 3 election, was admitted to hospital on Friday, 2nd October after testing positive for the virus.
“Don’t let it dominate you. Don’t be afraid of it,” Trump said in the video message which he shared on Twitter. “We’re going to beat it. Don’t let it take over your lives. Maybe I’m immune, I don’t know.”
Trump, 74, has not had a fever in more than 72 hours and his oxygen levels are normal, his medical team told reporters before he left the medical facility.
The doctors declined to discuss any effects the disease could have had on the president’s lungs or disclose when Trump last tested negative for the coronavirus, saying they were in “unchartered territory” because the president had received new therapies as part of his treatment.
The team added that Trump had received supplemental oxygen twice in recent days.
“He may not entirely be out of the woods yet,” Dr Sean Conley, the White House physician, said, stressing that Trump would have world-class medical care around the clock at the White House.
The severity of Trump’s illness has been the subject of intense speculation, with some medical experts noting that, as an overweight, elderly man, he was in a category more likely to develop severe complications or die from the disease
Doctors have been treating him with remdesivir and a steroid, dexamethasone, normally used only in the most severe cases.
US House of Representatives Democratic Speaker, Nancy Pelosi said she hoped Trump’s decision to return to the White House was not politically motivated and she expressed concern that he could become a “long hauler,” a term that refers to those who suffer COVID-19 complications over an extended period.
His opponent, Joe Biden has castigated Trump for saying Americans should not be afraid of COVID-19 or let it “dominate your life,” and for his continued ambivalence about masks.
“I would hope that the president, having gone through what he went through – and I’m glad he seems to be coming along pretty well – would communicate the right lesson to the American people: masks matter,” Biden said at an outdoor town hall session in Miami.
“These masks, they matter. It matters, it saves lives, it prevents the spread of the disease.”
