Trump Was Sicker Than Acknowledged With Covid-19
When hospitalized with the coronavirus in October, his blood oxygen levels had plunged and officials feared he was on the verge of being placed on a ventilator.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/11/...ews&ref=cta®i_id=54641335&segment_id=51478
President Donald J. Trump was sicker with Covid-19 in October than publicly acknowledged at the time, with extremely depressed blood oxygen levels at one point and a lung problem associated with pneumonia caused by the coronavirus, according to four people familiar with his condition.
His prognosis became so worrisome before he was
taken to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center that officials believed he would need to be put on a ventilator, two of the people familiar with his condition said.
The people familiar with Mr. Trump’s health said he was found to have lung infiltrates, which occur when the lungs are inflamed and contain substances such as fluid or bacteria. Their presence, especially when a patient is exhibiting other symptoms, can be a sign of an
acute case of the disease. They can be easily spotted on an X-ray or scan, when parts of the lungs appear opaque, or white.
Mr. Trump’s blood oxygen level alone was cause for extreme concern, dipping into the 80s, according to the people familiar with his evaluation. The disease is considered severe when the blood oxygen level falls to the low 90s.
It has been previously reported that Mr. Trump had trouble breathing and a fever on Oct. 2, the day he was taken to the hospital, and the types of treatment he received indicated that his condition was serious. But the new details about his condition and about the effort inside the White House to get him special access to an unapproved drug to fight the virus help to flesh out one of the most dire episodes of Mr. Trump’s presidency.
The new revelations about Mr. Trump’s struggle with the virus also underscore the limited and sometimes misleading nature of the information disclosed at the time about his condition.
The former president resisted being taken from the White House to Walter Reed, relenting when aides told him that he could walk out on his own, or risk waiting until the U.S. Secret Service was forced to carry him out if he got sicker, two people familiar with the events said.
While Mr. Trump was hospitalized at Walter Reed, his medical team
sought to downplay the severity of the situation, saying that he was on an upswing. At 74 and overweight, he was
at risk for severe disease, and was prescribed an aggressive course of treatments. He left the hospital after three days in which he at one point staged a brief
ride in his armored sport-utility vehicle to wave at the crowd of supporters outside the building.
A person close to the former president denied that he had been seriously ill, echoing comments Mr. Trump himself made after he was sick.
There are still unanswered questions about whether Mr. Trump was already sick with Covid-19 when he participated in a
presidential debate on Sept. 29, just two days before the public announcement that he had been diagnosed with the disease and three days before his deteriorating condition forced him to go to Walter Reed.
Mr. Trump’s physician, Dr. Sean P. Conley, repeatedly downplayed concerns about Mr. Trump’s condition during his illness. At one briefing, Dr. Conley said Mr. Trump was receiving X-ray and CT scans. But when asked about whether there was evidence of pneumonia or damage to the tissue, he would only say there were “expected findings, but nothing of any major clinical concern.”
Dr. Conley also told reporters that while Mr. Trump’s oxygen level had dropped to 93 percent, it had never dropped to the “low 80s.”
Mr. Trump had trouble breathing at the White House. He was twice given oxygen before being taken to Walter Reed, as Dr. Conley acknowledged after it was reported by The New York Times.
While still at the White House, Mr. Trump
received a drug developed by the biotechnology firm Regeneron Pharmaceuticals. The antibody cocktail — not widely available at the time — helps people infected with the virus fight it off.
After Mr. Trump was hospitalized, he began a regimen for a steroid, dexamethasone, which is usually recommended only for Covid-19 patients who have severe or critical forms of the disease, often those who need mechanical ventilation or supplemental oxygen.
