Trump’s doctors dodge questions about supplemental oxygen and say he’s ‘doing very well’

Donald Trump’s doctors dodged questions about whether he received supplemental oxygen at any point after contracting the novel coronavirus.

The team of physicians delivered an update on Saturday morning outside of Walter Reed Medical Center in Maryland where Mr Trump was flown on Friday after his condition had reportedly worsened and he began experiencing difficulty breathing, as well as a fever. 

The doctors said that the “president is doing very well” and added that they were “extremely happy with the progress [Mr Trump] has made”.

The president has provided an experimental antibody “cocktail” and the drug Remdesivir, according to a White House statement. The president, who is 74 years old and obese, is vulnerable to some of the severe side effects associated with the potentially deadly virus. 

The president told his doctors “I feel like I could walk out of here today,” according to one of his team’s physicians who spoke at the press conference.

Another physician detailed the treatments that Mr Trump has received, from the experimental antibodies he received to the Remdesivir drug. He has been fever-free for at least 24 hours and has been encouraged this morning to drink water, stay hydrated and eat, according to the medical staff.

When asked if the president had received supplemental oxygen since contracting the virus, White House physician Sean Conley carefully noted that Mr Trump “has not needed any today at all”. 

Asked again if Mr Trump received oxygen, Dr Conley said he was not currently on any oxygen at this time. 

Reporters continued to press the doctors about if and when the president required any supplemental oxygen whatsoever, leading Dr Conley to confirm that he had not received any oxygen on Thursday or Saturday, as well as when his team was with Mr Trump on Friday. 

Although the team refused to acknowledge whether the president had ever received supplemental oxygen, they said that he was “in exceptionally good spirits” according to one doctor, Sean Dooley.

Asked why the president was flown to Walter Reed if he was in mostly good health, Dr Conley simply said: “Because he is the president of the United States.”

Mr Trump has continued to host large events at the White House, including a ceremony to nominate Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court in the Rose Garden last Saturday where people sat in tight rows with few wearing masks which is being eyed as a so-called “super-spreader” event due to a number of positive cases among those who attended. 

The president has also held massive rallies across the country, and was even planning on holding one in a region of Wisconsin that his White House coronavirus response task force deemed a “red zone” in a recent report.