United States President, Donald Trump is certainly not in any hurry to slack in controversies ahead of the November 3, 2020 presidential election, announcing his return from COVID-19 in a fundraising letter to supporters.
The letter, sent out on Sunday complete with lots of bolds and caps, said: “I’m back. I’ve just been CLEARED by the White House doctor to return to the campaign trail. Amazing! I feel great – better than I have in the last 20 years – and I cannot wait to be back with the American People.
“The Democrats were hoping I would be out of commission for WEEKS. They wanted to keep me from YOU. They wanted to keep me from WINNING. Too bad for them – I AM BACK AND BETTER THAN EVER.
“So there you go, Donald Trump has the sculpted body of a 54-year-old.”
Obviously lending support to the President’s position, the White House doctor declared that Donald Trump is no longer at risk of transmitting the coronavirus, but failed to disclose whether the US president has tested negative for the virus.
In a memo released by the White House, Dr Sean Conley said Trump met the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP) criteria for safely discontinuing isolation and that by “currently recognised standards”, he was no longer considered a transmission risk.
The memo did not say whether Trump had tested negative, but stated that a test on Saturday had showed the President was no longer a “transmission risk to others”, and there was no longer evidence “of actively replicating virus”.
Sensitive lab tests, like the PCR test, detect virus in swab samples taken from the nose and throat. Dr William Morice, who oversees laboratories at the Mayo Clinic, said earlier this week that using the PCR tests, the President’s medical team could hypothetically measure and track the amount of virus in samples over time and watch the viral load go down.
News on the President’s health status broke out as cases continued to spike in midwestern US states and the Health Ministry in India, the second-worst hit country after the US, issued figures showing its total infections had climbed over 7 million.
Some medical experts had been skeptical that Trump could be declared free of the risk of transmitting the virus so early in the course of his illness. Just 10 days since an initial diagnosis of infection, there was no way to know for certain that someone was no longer contagious, they said.
The memo followed Trump’s first public appearance since returning to the White House after being treated in hospital. Hundreds of people gathered Saturday afternoon on the South Lawn for a Trump address on his support for law enforcement from a White House balcony.
President Trump took off his mask moments after he emerged to address the crowd, his first step back onto the public stage with just more than three weeks to go until election day.
Once more, he flouted the safety recommendations of his own government just days after acknowledging that he was on the brink of “bad things” from the virus and claiming that his bout with the illness brought him a better understanding of it.
His return was a brief one. With bandages visible on his hands, likely from an intravenous injection, Trump spoke for 18 minutes, far less than at his normal hour-plus rallies. He appeared healthy, if perhaps a little hoarse, as he delivered what was, for all intents and purposes, a short version of his campaign speech.
“I’m feeling great,” said Trump, who said he was thankful for their good wishes and prayers as he recovered. He then declared that the pandemic, which has killed more than 210,000 Americans, was “disappearing” even though he is still recovering from the virus. With The Guardian reports
forefrontng
