By: Tayhana Taylor, World News Editor
On Oct. 2, 2020, President Senese issued an email to students extending prayers and concerns for President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump who have confirmed cases of COVID-19.
A tweet was posted from the Presidents Twitter’s account on Oct. 1, 2020, that read, “Tonight, the @FLOTUS and I have been tested positive for COVID-19. We will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately.” President Trump and the First Lady are being quarantined at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. A team of expert doctors, including the White House Physician Dr. Sean P. Conley, are tending to him.
On Oct. 2, a press conference was held by the President’s medical staff, where they disclosed information addressing his current health status.
Conely said, “Thursday night into Friday morning, when I left the bedside, the President was doing well with mild symptoms and his oxygen was in the high 90s[….]late Friday morning when I returned to the bedside, the President had a high fever and his oxygen saturation was transiently dipping below 94 percent.”
However, the President was not short-of- breath and was said to be “up and around,” stated Dr. Brian Garibaldi, the Physician treating President Trump.
Since then, Conley has released additional details on the President’s health status. A memorandum was issued to the President’s Assistant and White House Press Secretary, Kayleigh Mcenany, on Oct. 2. The memo from Conley highlighted the medical treatments the President is receiving, which included polyclonal antibodies cocktails, zinc, vitamin D, melatonin, and daily aspirin.
Conley furthermore emphasized that the POTUS “remains fatigued, but in good spirits.”
However, there was a bit of ambiguity about the status of the President’s health, after his Chief of Staff, Mark Meadows, released a differing statement from Conely’s promptly after, stating that President Trump’s vital signs in the last 48 hours “were very concerning” and that the upcoming days may be critical.
Trump’s age of 74 makes him vulnerable to a difficult battle with COVID-19. His immune system may not be capable enough to fight the virus on its own. Reports from National Geographic show that the President does a yearly physical. The most recent physical disclosed that he can be considered slightly obese. In this critical time the commander-in-chief must receive the best care possible to strengthen his immune system to avoid detrimental consequences.
Despite the information communicated by the White House and the Healthcare experts, members of the public have their concerns. What does this mean for the United States, if the Leader of the Free World is incapable of fulfilling his duties?
“It obviously leads to uncertainty in the short term, but I’m not sure it will change the outlook for the President’s re-election campaign where he is still behind Joe Biden,” stated Frank Orlando, the Director of Saint Leo University’s Polling Institute. “If the President can’t perform his duties, via death or being incapacitated, then the job moves to Vice President, Mike Pence.”
Although there have been various news reports about Trump’s illness, some members of the public remain ambivalent about the reports.
One in particular Ashley Tucker, a freshman Criminalistics specialization said, “When I read Dr. Senese’s email, urging us as a school community to keep the President and the First Lady in our prayers, I first questioned if the announcement of the President being tested positive for COVID-19 was some sort of campaign strategy, or if he was ill.”
Others have expressed their views via social media platforms; there has been a mixture of good wishes, insults, disbelief, and genuine concern about the trajectory of the United States if the President’s immune system fails him.
Trump was released from the Walter Reed National Military Center on Oct. 5, 2020; only four days after testing positive for COVID-19. The average incubation period for COVID-19 is anywhere between two and five days with the minimum quarantine time being 14 days. On Oct. 7, 2020, another memorandum was sent to the White House Press Secretary.
Trump said, “I feel great!”
The memo furthermore indicated that the POTUS has been fever free for 4 days and symptom free for 24 hours.
“He is the President the United States, so I knew he would get the best medical care possible, hence his recovery period may be quicker than the average person”, said Damion Drackett, a freshman Bio-medical and Health Science major.
