DOCTOR’S SAY:  “THE PRESIDENT MAY NOT ENTIRELY BE OUT OF THE WOODS”

 

            …Herman Cain Died of coronavirus after 30 days of being diagnosed

 

The President was having trouble breathing when he first returned to the White House

 

OK, after three days in the hospital, the president says he has “…recovered from the coronavirus,” and to the public: “Don’t be afraid of the virus.”

Lets just take a look at someone that was 74 years old when he contracted the virus by not social distancing and not wearing a mask at Trump’s first 2020 campaign rally inside the vast arena in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Herman Cain, a former 2020 GOP candidate for president, he had become a Trump supporter and he attended the June 20^th Trump rally in Tulsa.

Days after the rally, Cain was admitted to the Atlanta, Georgia area hospital on July 1^st, after testing positive for Covid-19.

As with the president, just days later he was said to be recovering from the virus.  They later said this was a reflection of the complex immune system “stages” of the Covid-19 disease.  These were initially, hopeful indicators, including a mere five days when doctors told Cain’s family that they thought he would eventually recover.  He was allowed to return home to continue recovering.

Then Cain started having trouble breathing and was eventually sent by ambulance back to the hospital. His family prayed that the initial meds they gave him would get his breathing back to normal, but it became clear pretty quickly that he was in for a serious battle.  They didn’t release any detailed updates on his condition to the public, or to the media, because his family thought there was no reason to do that.

Herman Cain died on July 30, 2020.  Just 30 days from first entering the hospital

President Trump returned to the White House from the hospital after 3 days, saying that he had recovered from the novel coronavirus and that people should not be afraid of a disease that has killed more than 209,000 Americans.

Trump’s comments, a few hours before leaving Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., as he again downplayed the coronavirus.  This is despite the evidence that the White House decided to engage in practices viewed as reckless and that have had dire consequences in the West Wing.

More than a dozen White House officials have since tested positive for the coronavirus.  That is a steadily increasing total that grew again to include press secretary Kayleigh McEnany.  How the return of an infected president to such a setting could be managed safely was one of several questions left unanswered as Trump’s medical team briefed reporters about his condition.

“We’ve worked with our infectious-disease experts to make some recommendations for how to keep everything safe down at the White House,” Trump’s doctor Sean Conley said after describing the president’s condition as improving, though he said Trump was “not out of the woods yet.”

Dr. Conley declined to describe what specific steps would be made to ensure a safe environment at a building that doubles as a personal residence and a government office, while the president remains contagious, which could be contagious for several more days at least.

“I wish I could go into that more, but I just can’t,” Dr. Conley said.

The case today is transformation of the White House into the location of a deadly disease. This has done little to change the approach of an administration that has been determined to downplay the coronavirus for months. Trump used his personal experience with the disease, which twice has knocked his oxygen levels down significantly and required him to be hospitalized and injected with several drugs.  This again just played down the severity of the disease.

“Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don’t let it dominate your life,” Trump tweeted that afternoon, three days after he was transported to Walter Reed for coronavirus treatment.  Then the president had the nerve to state: “We have developed, under the Trump Administration, some really great drugs & knowledge. I feel better than I did 20 years ago!”

His statement again minimized the pandemic, something he has done consistently since it emerged as a threat earlier this year, and his comments immediately drew rebukes.

“ ‘Don’t be afraid’? I wish every American had access to the same health care you’re getting…but they don’t,” said Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) on Twitter.

But Trump has given little indication that he plans to change his behavior.

When he returned to the White House, the contagious president climbed up the stairs rather than using the usual ground-level entrance.  Then, having trouble breathing, he posed for pictures.  After a few seconds, he reached up with his right hand, took off his mask, put it in his pocket and resumed flashing his “thumbs up”. He then turned and entered the building.

Trump spent Sunday and Monday discussing his campaign, the polls, advertising in key states and discussing what Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden was doing.  This is according to people who spoke to the president.  He began discussing with officials Sunday when he could return to the campaign trail, and how.

“Will be back on the Campaign Trail soon!!! The Fake News only shows the Fake Polls,” he tweeted Monday afternoon shortly before leaving the hospital.

Trump is trailing Biden in the “real national and key state polls”.  They are not “Fake News”.

The White House has now become known as a “virus hot spot”.

Aides said the Diplomatic Reception Room and the Map Room are being prepared for working spaces for Trump at the White House, where many staff members have opted to work from home in the coming days.

Even before Trump’s return, several officials have cleared out of the building amid ongoing news reports of lawmakers, aides, visitors and residence staffers who have tested positive for the coronavirus after spending time in the White House in recent days.

“The West Wing is a total ghost town,” said one official who worked at the White House.  As usual, the official, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal dynamics in the building.

Time will tell if Trump has to deal with the issues of the virus, such as did Mr. Herman Cain.

Copyright G. Ater 2020