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Trump urges Americans to ‘get out there’ after return from hospital

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President Donald Trump emerged on Monday from four days in a US military hospital where he was treated for COVID-19 with a video message to Americans to”get out there” and not be afraid of coronavirus.

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— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 5, 2020

Though his doctors said he still was not “out of the woods,”Trump appeared maskless and defiant in a video released shortly after he returned to the White House from Walter Reed Medical Center.

“Don’t let it dominate you. Don’t be afraid of it,” Trump said. “We’re going back, we’re going back to work. We’re going to be out front. … Don’t let it dominate your lives. Get out there, be careful.”

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The disease has killed more than 1 million people worldwide and more than 209 000 in the United States alone – the highest death toll of any country.

Trump, 74, has not had a fever in more than 72 hours and his oxygen levels are normal, his medical team told reporters in front of the hospital. The doctors declined, however, to discuss any toll the disease could have on the president’s lungs or disclose when Trump last tested negative for the coronavirus.

The team added that the president had received supplemental oxygen twice in recent days.

“He may not entirely be out of the woods yet,” Dr. Sean. P. Conley, the White House physician, said. “If we can get through to Monday with him remaining the same or improving, better yet, then we will all take that final, deep sigh of relief.”

But Conley said the medical team believed Trump was ready to leave the hospital, stressing he would have world-class medical care around the clock at the White House.

Conley said doctors were in “uncharted territory” because Trump had received certain therapies so early in the course of the illness.

The severity of Trump’s illness has been the subject of intense speculation, with some medical experts noting that, as an overweight, elderly man, he was in a category more likely to develop severe complications or die from the disease.

Doctors also have been treating him with a steroid, dexmethasone, that is normally used only in the most severe cases.

Trump has frequently downplayed the threat of the pandemic. In recent days, he released a series of videos to reassure the public he was recovering from COVID-19.

He was reluctant to go to the hospital last week and was eager to get out, a source familiar with the situation told Reuters earlier on Monday.

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