Trump flown to military hospital

WASHINGTON (AP):

Stricken by COVID-19, a feverish and fatigued US President Donald Trump was flown to a military hospital last night after being injected with an experimental drug combination in treatment at the White House.

In a day of whipsaw events, the president, who has spent months downplaying the threat of the coronavirus, was forced to cancel all campaign events a month before the election as he fought a virus that has killed more than one million people and is hitting others in his orbit as well.

The White House said Trump’s expected stay of “a few days” at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center was precautionary and that he would continue to work from the hospital’s presidential suite, which is equipped to allow him to keep up his official duties.

Trump walked out of the White House yesterday evening wearing a mask and gave a thumbs up to reporters but did not speak before boarding Marine One. Members of the aircrew, Secret Service agents and White House staff wore face coverings to protect themselves from the president on board the helicopter.

In a video taped before leaving for Walter Reed, Trump said, “I think I’m doing very well, but we’re going to make sure that things work out.”

He remained fully president, all authority intact.

Just a month before the presidential election, Trump’s revelation that he was positive for the virus came by tweet about 1 a.m. on Friday after he had returned from a Thursday afternoon political fundraiser. He had gone ahead to the event, saying nothing to the crowd, though knowing he had been exposed to an aide confirmed with the virus.

First Lady Melania Trump also tested positive, the president said, and several others in the White House have, too, prompting concern that the White House or even Trump himself might have spread the virus further. He said in his video that his wife was doing very well.

Turbulent period

Trump’s diagnosis came during an already turbulent period in Washington and around the world, with the US gripped in a heated presidential election amid the human and economic toll of the virus. Trump’s immediate campaign events were all cancelled, and his next debate with Democrat Joe Biden, scheduled for October 15, is now in question.

Trump has been trying all year – and as recently as Wednesday – to convince the American public that the worst of the pandemic is past, and he has consistently played down concerns about being personally vulnerable. He has mostly refused to abide by basic public health guidelines – including those issued by his own administration – such as wearing face coverings in public and practising social distancing. Until he tested positive, he continued to hold campaign rallies that drew thousands of often maskless supporters.

“I felt no vulnerability whatsoever,” he told reporters back in May.