Donald Trump has been reprimanded on several occasions for flouting public health guidelines.
Washington, United States:
US President Donald Trump sparked an angry reaction from the medical community on Sunday with a protocol-breaking visit to his supporters outside the hospital where he is being treated for the highly contagious and potentially fatal novel coronavirus.
He was masked as he acted from inside his bulletproof vehicle on the short drive outside Walter Reed Military Medical Center near Washington, which appeared to be designed to pick up the tale of his improving health after a weekend of confused messages from his doctors.
But experts complained the exit violated its own government’s public health guidelines requiring patients to self-isolate while in treatment and still shedding the virus – and endangering the protection of patients. secret Service.
Trump, who has been repeatedly reprimanded for flouting public health guidelines and spreading disinformation about the pandemic, said in a video posted to Twitter just before the appearance that he had “learned a lot about Covid” by “really going to school” as he battled the virus.
But health experts took to the airwaves and social media to criticize the “coup”, which they said demonstrated he had learned nothing at all.
“Every person in the vehicle during this completely unnecessary presidential drive-by must be quarantined for 14 days,” said James Phillips, chief disaster medicine at George Washington University.
“They can get sick. They can die. For political theater. On Trump’s order to put their lives in danger for the theater. This is madness.”
White House spokesman Judd Deere said “appropriate” precautions were taken to protect Trump and his support staff, including protective gear.
“The move has been cleared by the medical team as safe to do,” he added.
But Zeke Emanuel, director of the Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy at the University of Pennsylvania and a regular television scholar, called the appearance “shameful.”
“Having his Secret Service agents drive with a COVID-19 patient, with windows no less open, unnecessarily exposes them to a risk of infection. And for what? A publicity stunt,” he tweeted.
Confused messaging
The episode came hours after a briefing from Trump’s medical team, who said he had “continued to improve” and could be returned to the White House, which has the necessary facilities to treat and isolate the president, starting Monday.
The president was flown to Walter Reed with a high fever on Friday after his illness “progressed rapidly”, with a worrying drop in his oxygen levels, Trump’s doctor Sean Conley said in a statement. Sunday briefing.
Health experts have complained that messages from the administration – and in particular from Trump’s medical team – have caused widespread confusion.
Conley admitted on Sunday that he kept the fact that the president was given extra oxygen was kept from the public, in an attempt to reflect an “optimistic attitude”.
And he gave a positive account of Trump’s progress on Saturday only for White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows to immediately tell reporters that Trump’s condition was “of great concern” and that he was not. “still not on a clear path to full recovery”.
“ White House Cluster ”
With his tough re-election campaign in its final month against Democratic rival Joe Biden – who announced his latest negative test for the virus on Sunday – Trump and his advisers have done their best to project a sense of continuity.
His deputy campaign manager, Jason Miller, told ABC on Sunday that he spoke to Trump for half an hour on Saturday and that the president was “making jokes.”
But controversy has mounted over the possibility that Trump may have exposed many more to Covid-19 even after a close associate tested positive.
A schedule provided by his advisers and doctors suggested he met with more than 30 donors Thursday in Bedminster, New Jersey, even after learning Hope Hicks had the virus – and just hours before announcing his own positive test.
There were more than 200 people at the fundraiser and an ongoing contact tracing operation in New Jersey potentially targeted thousands of people who may have been exposed.
All of this happened within a week when a Wall Street Journal / NBC poll – conducted within two days of a deadly presidential debate with Biden but before news of Trump’s illness emerged – gave Biden an significant advance of 53 to 39% among registered voters. .
Besides Trump and Hicks, many White House insiders and at least three Republican senators have contracted Covid-19, as well as First Lady Melania Trump, who has not exhibited severe symptoms.
Public health experts have expressed concern over the “White House cluster,” which has been linked to the Sept. 26 celebration in the Rose Garden of the appointment of Conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court.
(This story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
