Trump tries to show strength; doctors reveal anxious moments

WASHINGTON • US President Donald Trump sought to dispel any perception of weakness on Sunday with a surprise outing from his hospital bed to greet supporters, even as his doctors again rewrote the official narrative of his illness by revealing two alarming episodes they had previously not disclosed.

The doctors said Mr Trump's blood oxygen level dropped twice in the two days after he was diagnosed with Covid-19, requiring medical intervention, and that he had been put on steroids, suggesting his condition may be more serious than described. But they insisted his situation had improved enough since, and that he could be discharged as early as yesterday.

The episodes raised new questions about the credibility of the information provided about the President. Officials have acknowledged providing rosy assessments to satisfy their prickly patient.

Determined to reassert himself on the political stage, Mr Trump made an unannounced exit from Walter Reed National Military Medical Centre on Sunday evening, riding past supporters in his armoured Chevrolet Suburban. Masked, he waved at the crowd through a closed window.

"It's been a very interesting journey," he said in a minute-long video on Twitter, sounding more energetic than he had been in the last couple of days. "I learned a lot about Covid... and I'm going to be letting you know about it."

Mr Trump's morale-boosting visit may have masked the reality of his condition, and his seeming energy may have reflected the fact that he was given the steroid dexamethasone, health experts said.

Dexamethasone has been shown to help patients who are severely ill with Covid-19, but it is typically not used in mild cases.

"Every single person in the vehicle during that completely unnecessary Presidential 'drive-by' just now has to be quarantined for 14 days," Dr James Phillips, an attending physician at Walter Reed, tweeted. "Commanded by Trump to put their lives at risk for theatre. This is insanity."

Dr Phillips said the trip raised the question of whether the President was directing his doctors.

"Were those doctors ordered to allow this to happen?" he asked, noting that it violated standards of care and would not be an option open to any other patient.

White House spokesman Judd Deere said precautions were taken in organising the excursion.

But the criticism threatened to reinforce views of Mr Trump's handling of the pandemic as a whole, which has been widely criticised and remains his biggest political vulnerability.

Two officials speaking on condition of anonymity acknowledged that Mr Trump had an undisclosed positive result from a rapid test last Thursday after returning from a fund-raiser in New Jersey. But he did not reveal it when he called into Mr Sean Hannity's Fox News show and, in a raspy voice, said he was still waiting for results.

Only after the TV show did the results of another, more sophisticated PCR test come back confirming the positive reading, said the officials. It was that later test result that Mr Trump announced on Twitter around 1am on Friday.

Each passing day brings new information about those early hours of the illness that contradicts the version of events originally put out by the White House.

Dr Sean Conley, the White House physician, acknowledged on Sunday that Mr Trump had a high fever and had seen his oxygen drop on Friday. That episode prompted the decision to transfer Mr Trump to the hospital, a move initially described by the White House as simply a precaution.

Dr Conley and other doctors were nonetheless optimistic on Sunday that Mr Trump was doing better and could soon be sent back to convalesce at the White House.

But advisers were also troubled by the doctors' prediction that they might release him yesterday, because if they do not, it would signal that the President is not doing as well as indicated.

They also worried that a premature return could lead to a second trip to the hospital if his condition worsened.

NYTIMES