Trump credits swift treatment for his Covid-19 recovery

Rapid coronavirus treatment was the key to his quick recovery from Covid-19, President Donald Trump said in an interview with Fox News.

“I think the secret for me was I got there very early,” he told the network’s medical contributor Dr. Marc Siegel during the pre-taped segment that aired Friday night.

Trump announced he tested positive for coronavirus early Friday morning last week, and by Friday night, he was taken by helicopter to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, for treatment.

“I think going in early is a big factor in my case.”

He received an immediate dose of an experimental monoclonal antibody therapy at the White House, then was treated with a course of the infused antiviral medication remdesivir, and the steroid dexamethasone during his hospital stay. He was also given supplemental oxygen, White House physician Dr. Sean Conley said.

Trump was released from Walter Reed Monday afternoon.

The President said he felt weak when he first started noticing symptoms.

“I didn’t have a problem with breathing, which a lot of people seem to have. I had none of that, but I didn’t feel very strong. I didn’t feel very vital,” he said.

“I didn’t feel like the President of the US should feel and I knew there was something a little bit off … but I would say more weakness than anything else.”

Trump’s physicians said early in the illness his blood oxygen levels dipped at least twice but rose again after they administered oxygen. They also said he experienced a high fever.

But Trump said he feels well now and had been medication-free for eight hours at the time the interview with Fox News was taped. It was not clear when the interview was recorded.

“I feel really good. I feel very strong,” he said.

Trump isn’t sure where he caught the coronavirus.

“They had some big events at the White House and perhaps there,” he said. “I don’t really know. Nobody really knows for sure. Numerous people have contracted it, but you know people have contracted it all over the world. It’s highly contagious,” he said.

“That’s one thing you learned this is a contagious disease, and generally you get better from it but we also now have medicine that will help a lot,” he added.

The President said he’s not taking any coronavirus-related medications.

“We pretty much finished and now we’ll see how things go, but pretty much nothing,” he said. “We had our final doses of just about everything.”

“Actually the, the original transfusion, that’s supposed to last for about four months, you know, the antibodies and I think you’re supposed to be protected anywhere from two to four months and maybe longer than that.” Trump may have been referring to Regeneron’s monoclonal antibody treatment, which is infused.

He said he’d consider donating his plasma if asked to do so. “I will, if that’s if they want me to do it, I’d love to do it,” he said.

The President credited the doctors and scientists for doing “an incredible job” against the coronavirus in a short time.

“The respect for the doctors and for the technicians and for the scientists is incredible because I’ve seen what they’ve done and it’s incredible, the job that they’ve done in a short period of time,” Trump said.

“Over a six month period the job that they’ve done is incredible, and you’ll see that very soon with the medicines and with the vaccines.”