President Trump To Be Released From Hospital After COVID-19 Treatment - Dr. Mallika Marshall Weighs In
BOSTON (CBS) – President Donald Trump is leaving Walter Reed National Military Medical Center Monday, days after being treated for coronavirus. WBZ-TV's Dr. Mallika Marshall is answering coronavirus-related questions as it pertains to the President, Vice President Mike Pence and Joe Biden.
It makes sense that President Trump would want to get out of the hospital, but does he seem to be getting out pretty quickly?
He is. This is not the course that we would typically see with a COVID-19 patient who has had the medical course that we think the President has had so far. The President, presumably, is still receiving an experimental intravenous medication, Remdesivir. He is receiving dexamethasone, a steroid typically reserved for the sickest of patients, mostly with COVID-pneumonia and we know that he has had at least two episodes of hypoxia, meaning a drop in blood oxygen levels. It is not uncommon for patients to chug along doing fairly well, or even appearing to improve, and then fall off the cliff seven to 10 days into their illness. For all of those reasons, a patient like that should continue to be monitored closely in the hospital until doctors are sure he's not going to get worse.
Vice President Mike Pence and Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden keep testing negative. How long until they are in the clear?
It can take a number of days after being exposed to the virus for a test to turn positive. For example, if you get tested for the coronavirus on the same day you get exposed, it most certainly will come back negative. It may take five to seven days or more for the amount of virus in the upper airways to build up to a detectable level. The further out someone is from exposure with a negative test, the more likely it will stay negative. So if the former Vice President was exposed at the debate last Tuesday but continues to have negative tests over the next few days, chances are good that he didn't get infected that evening.
