CONNECTICUT, USA — After a weekend in the hospital, President Trump left Walter Reed Medical Center Monday. Dr. David Banach, an infectious disease physician at UCONN Health gave FOX61 News insights into the treatments Trump's doctors are administering as he recovers from COVID-19.
"From the videos, it looks like things are pretty stable, but from what we’ve learned with COVID, of course things can change and again," says Dr. Banach. "It’s going to be one day at a time."
President Trump updated the public on how he is feeling via twitter videos all weekend. The White House says the 74 year -old tested positive for coronavirus early Friday morning.
"I came here. I wasn’t feeling so well," says Trump. "I feel much better now. We’re working hard to get me all the way back. I have to be back."
If there is one thing we have learned about the coronavirus this year, it’s that it’s unpredictable.
"Certainly when it comes to COVID there is no standard trajectory," says Banach. "We’ve seen very mild illness that start out mild and then progress, unfortunately."
Still, the President remains optimistic about his case on twitter.
"We’re getting great reports from the doctors. This is an incredible hospital, Walter Reed," says Trump.
He has been given three treatments so far. First, an antibody treatment which are designed to attack the virus early on. After he was admitted to Walter Reed, he was given an antiviral medicine called remdesivir.
"Both those medications are most effective when given early and I think that was the general goal of the President’s treatment team," says Dr. Banach. "The other medication he’s received is dexamethasone which we call a corticosteroid, which basically blocks the inflammatory process associated with COVID-19."
Dr. Banach says knowing that the President was on dexamethasone gives some insight into his condition because it’s reserved for patients when their oxygen levels drop.
"[I]t subsequently was presented in some of the press briefings that he did have periods in which his oxygen level was low and he required supplemental oxygen and that’s really a criteria we use in the hospital when we make a decision to give dexamethasone," says Banach.
Dr. Banach says people often get better after they start seeing symptoms initially. But, President Trump isn’t out of the woods yet. Banach says Trump’s team of doctors are going to need to closely monitor him moving forward as the virus progresses into the next phase where your lungs can become more inflamed.