buzzfeed--2020-10-03--Conspiracy Theories Are Everywhere About Trump’s COVID-19 Diagnosis. He Helped Make Them Happen.

A day and a half after the president tested positive for COVID-19 , the conspiracy theories and disinformation around his condition are rampant , driven in part by his own administration ’ s mixed messages and evasiveness about the specifics of how sick he actually is .
On Saturday morning , the doctors treating him at Walter Reed Medical Center refused to answer specific , straightforward questions at a press conference about Trump ’ s condition , like how high his fever had been , and whether he has been on oxygen since testing positive for the virus .
Minutes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with the president ’ s health ” told White House reporters the president ’ s vitals had been “ very concerning ” and “ the next 48 hours will be critical in terms of his care.
” “ We ’ re still not on a clear path to a full recovery , ” the source said , adding confusion to the lack of clarity about the president ’ s condition .
Online , conspiracy theorists on both the left and the right speculated that Trump had either been much sicker than we ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at all but rather using a fake diagnosis as part of an elaborate power play .
As the US faces a moment of great uncertainty — what happens if the president is incapacitated by COVID-19 ?
Can we rely on the negative test results of the leaders who are in line to step in ?
— that chaos is being amplified by the maelstrom of conspiracy theories and distrust that Trump himself has helped create .
The crisis comes in the wake of four years of Trump spreading disinformation about everything from immigration @ @ @ @ @ @ @ question anything Trump says , and some on the right question anything the media says .
The White House ’ s total lack of precision isn ’ t helping .
During the press conference , the doctors also said that they were “ 72 hours ” into Trump ’ s diagnosis and that he had been administered an experimental antibody treatment “ 48 hours ago.
” Shortly after the conference , the White House released a statement from the president ’ s doctor Sean Conley saying that he ’ d misspoken and meant @ @ @ @ @ @ @ president ’ s diagnosis on Thursday and not 72 hours , which would have pushed the president ’ s diagnosis back to Wednesday — when he traveled to Minnesota for a campaign event .
The statement from Conley also said he ’ d misspoken about the 48 hour period after he had been given the experimental antibodies — another doctor had mentioned the 48 hour period during the conference rather than Conley .
The multiple confounding and inaccurate statements from the White House led to further doubt about the state of the president @ @ @ @ @ @ @ confirmed he had COVID-19 , conspiracy theories about why he would potentially halt his presidential campaign and go into quarantine were already swirling around the internet .
“ Just learned that [ Trump advisor ] Hope Hicks tested positive for Covid , ” the actor Bette Midler tweeted out around midnight to two million followers .
“ Timing ’ s so interesting .
I guess Trump ’ s quarantining will mean no rallies , and no more debates .
Convenient .
It ’ s awful to always think the worst , but after @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ t be helped .
No trust left.
” The tweet has been retweeted more than 4,400 times and has been liked over 31,000 times .
“ The reason why we ’ re seeing conspiracies and just doubt come from folks both on the left and the right have a lot to do with all of the misinformation related to coronavirus that ’ s happened over the past few months , particularly ideas that the president has advanced himself , ” Joan Donovan , the research director of Harvard University ’ s Shorenstein @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Public Policy and one of leading researchers on media manipulation and disinformation told BuzzFeed News .
Middler wasn ’ t the only person that was skeptical of the president ’ s announcement—the doubt that quickly formed from hundreds of other people in the replies and quote tweets of Middler ’ s tweet and more broadly across the internet paint a picture of a country that has widely embraced conspiracy theories in the lead up to the election and as the pandemic spread across the country .
Even before the confusing press conference from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ about the president ’ s health from a White House source on Saturday , the conspiracy theories flourished .
One photo widely circulating on Twitter highlighted innocuous bumps in the president ’ s suit and stray hairs on his head to suggest that he was wearing “ a portable oxygen concentrator in his pocket with the nasal cannula going up his back , ” as one person tweeted , while he walked to Marine One to be helicoptered to the hospital on Friday .
A June survey from Pew Research Center found that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a conspiracy theory that the pandemic had been planned by powerful people—of the 71 % who ’ d heard of the conspiracy theory , 36 % said that they “ definitely ” or “ probably ” believed that it was true .
Just surveying the replies to Middler ’ s conspiracy theory show how widespread this kind of thinking has been this week .
“ Same thought here , how can we trust any statement from Trump .
‘ The boy who cried wolf 20,000 times too often ... .
, ” one @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ I hate to be so cynical but I don ’ t believe it ’ s true .
Could be a political stunt to show how he pulls thru it with no symptoms to prove how “ safe ” it is to get it .
Also gets him out of the next debate without having to do it himself , ” another tweeted .
Michael Moore , a progressive filmmaker and former surrogate for Sen. Bernie Sanders ’ presidential campaign , posted similar conspiracies in a lengthy Facebook post that he then @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the president a liar and asked readers why they would believe him now .
“ We must be skeptical .
We must always remain skeptical when it comes to Trump .
He may have it .
But it ’ s also possible he ’ s lying .
That ’ s just a fact , ” Moore warned his followers .
“ HE MAY USE THIS TO PUSH FOR DELAYING/POSTPONING THE ELECTION , ” Moore wrote later in the post .
“ The constitution does not allow for this , but he doesn ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
He and his thug Attorney General Barr have no shame and will stop at nothing to stay in power.
” The uncertainty of what happens next for the US after Trump ’ s diagnosis is fueling the misinformation and conspiracy theories , said Mike Rothschild , an expert in debunking conspiracy theories .
“ It ’ s very destabilizing .
We 're at a moment in our country where we have absolutely no idea what happens next .
Trump could be completely fine .
He could be asymptomatic and recover well and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ die .
Or be on a ventilator and incapable of making decisions .
There are a lot of ways this could go really bad , ’ Rothschild said .
Especially with a void of clear , reliable information about hugely consequential events , people are more inclined to believe unlikely schemes and plots are afoot , Rothschild said .
“ And when you have an event like this , a world shaking event that does n't have a predetermined outcome , people fill in the knowledge gaps with conspiracy theories … that 's @ @ @ @ @ @ @ potential national security crisis that could come out of this situation could be exacerbated by the spread of left-wing conspiracies , Donovan said .
“ On the left , there ’ s a lot of dangerous speculation going on suggesting that this is an advantage that the president may get over Biden if he emerges and survives having had coronavirus , ” she said .
She warned that the news could also offer opportunities for foreign governments to meddle in the election by amplifying public outrage .
Conspiracy theories aren ’ t just @ @ @ @ @ @ @ resistance ” Twitter where factions of voters who detest the president discuss the election and the president ’ s actions — they ’ re spreading on far-right corners of the internet too , including among believers of QAnon , a collective delusion that alleges President Donald Trump is fighting a Satanist cabal of elites who abuse children .
In some of those spaces , conspiracies about Biden and racist notions that China is responsible for the coronavirus ( that the president has also pushed ) have melded into conspiracies that coronavirus is an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Biden campaign and China .
“ Could Trump catching COVID-19 technically be viewed as an assassination attempt on our president by the Chinese ?
, ” DeAnna Lorraine , a right-wing conspiracy theorist tweeted .
“ If we don ’ t deal with this now , it ’ s not that we ’ re going to see a war break out with China , ” Donovan said .
“ But we ’ re going to see hate crimes against people who are Chinese , Chinese-Americans , and Asian people in general because there @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and misunderstanding that ’ s been created for some people in the United States about coronavirus.
” One entirely unfounded QAnon theory is that Trump would at some point be whisked away to a secure location while mass arrests of Democratic politicians ensue .
After the president announced his positive test with the tweet “ Tonight , @ FLOTUS and I tested positive for COVID-19 .
We will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately .
We will get through this TOGETHER !
” , QAnon believers online dissected his wording to come @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in fact sending a message that “ WE WILL ALL GET THROUGH THIS TO GET HER , ” as one believer tweeted , “ her ” being Hillary Clinton .
“ QAnon tells this very compelling story , and it 's a story that its believers really want to be real and have invested an enormous amount of time and effort in being real , ” said Rothschild .
“ They ’ re digital soldiers , they are fighting not just a political party that they have disagreements with but the literal forces @ @ @ @ @ @ @ history of engaging in conspiracy theories since well before he was president .
That was especially clear with his aggressive promotion of the false conspiracy theory that Barack Obama was not actually born in the United States .
“ He was n't a politician until he started embracing conspiracy theories , ” Rothschild said .
He said it ’ s not surprising Trump is handling the situation in a way that doesn ’ t directly dispel the uncertainty about what ’ s really happening .
“ These are his people , so when @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , he ’ s not going to denounce it .
He 's going to do everything he can to throw red meat to those people because those are his people , ” he added .
Donovan added that the embrace of conspiracies that popped up in the hours after Trump announced his diagnosis are just a part of larger problems that the country is going to have to face in the months after the election .
“ Trump has set up a situation where there ’ s going to be some doubt about @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” Donovan said .
“ This new development really exacerbates an already intense situation .
”

A day and a half after the president tested positive for COVID-19, the conspiracy theories and disinformation around his condition are rampant, driven in part by his own administration’s mixed messages and evasiveness about the specifics of how sick he actually is.
On Saturday morning, the doctors treating him at Walter Reed Medical Center refused to answer specific, straightforward questions at a press conference about Trump’s condition, like how high his fever had been, and whether he has been on oxygen since testing positive for the virus. Minutes later, an unnamed person “familiar with the president’s health” told White House reporters the president’s vitals had been “very concerning” and “the next 48 hours will be critical in terms of his care.”
“We’re still not on a clear path to a full recovery,” the source said, adding confusion to the lack of clarity about the president’s condition.
Online, conspiracy theorists on both the left and the right speculated that Trump had either been much sicker than we’d been told — or not sick at all but rather using a fake diagnosis as part of an elaborate power play.
As the US faces a moment of great uncertainty — what happens if the president is incapacitated by COVID-19? Can we rely on the negative test results of the leaders who are in line to step in? — that chaos is being amplified by the maelstrom of conspiracy theories and distrust that Trump himself has helped create.
The crisis comes in the wake of four years of Trump spreading disinformation about everything from immigration to windmills. Some on the left question anything Trump says, and some on the right question anything the media says.
The White House’s total lack of precision isn’t helping. During the press conference, the doctors also said that they were “72 hours” into Trump’s diagnosis and that he had been administered an experimental antibody treatment “48 hours ago.” Shortly after the conference, the White House released a statement from the president’s doctor Sean Conley saying that he’d misspoken and meant that it was day three after the president’s diagnosis on Thursday and not 72 hours, which would have pushed the president’s diagnosis back to Wednesday — when he traveled to Minnesota for a campaign event. The statement from Conley also said he’d misspoken about the 48-hour period after he had been given the experimental antibodies — another doctor had mentioned the 48-hour period during the conference rather than Conley. The multiple confounding and inaccurate statements from the White House led to further doubt about the state of the president’s health.
Even before Trump confirmed he had COVID-19, conspiracy theories about why he would potentially halt his presidential campaign and go into quarantine were already swirling around the internet.
“Just learned that [Trump advisor] Hope Hicks tested positive for Covid,” the actor Bette Midler tweeted out around midnight to 2 million followers. “Timing’s so interesting. I guess Trump’s quarantining will mean no rallies, and no more debates. Convenient. It’s awful to always think the worst, but after four years of relentless lying? Can’t be helped. No trust left.”
The tweet has been retweeted more than 4,400 times and has been liked over 31,000 times.
“The reason why we’re seeing conspiracies and just doubt come from folks both on the left and the right have a lot to do with all of the misinformation related to coronavirus that’s happened over the past few months, particularly ideas that the president has advanced himself,” Joan Donovan, the research director of Harvard University’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Public Policy and one of leading researchers on media manipulation and disinformation, told BuzzFeed News.
Middler wasn’t the only person that was skeptical of the president’s announcement — the doubt that quickly formed from hundreds of other people in the replies and quote tweets of Middler’s tweet and more broadly across the internet paint a picture of a country that has widely embraced conspiracy theories in the lead up to the election and as the pandemic spread across the country.
Even before the confusing press conference from Trump’s doctors and the contradictory statement about the president’s health from a White House source on Saturday, the conspiracy theories flourished.
One photo widely circulating on Twitter highlighted innocuous bumps in the president’s suit and stray hairs on his head to suggest that he was wearing “a portable oxygen concentrator in his pocket with the nasal cannula going up his back,” as one person tweeted, while he walked to Marine One to be helicoptered to the hospital on Friday.
A June survey from Pew Research Center found that 71% of Americans had heard of a conspiracy theory that the pandemic had been planned by powerful people — of the 71% who’d heard of the conspiracy theory, 36% said that they “definitely” or “probably” believed that it was true.
Just surveying the replies to Middler’s conspiracy theory show how widespread this kind of thinking has been this week.
“Same thought here, how can we trust any statement from Trump. ‘The boy who cried wolf 20,000 times too often....” one Twitter user said in response to Middler.
“I hate to be so cynical but I don’t believe it’s true. Could be a political stunt to show how he pulls thru it with no symptoms to prove how 'safe' it is to get it. Also gets him out of the next debate without having to do it himself,” another tweeted.
Michael Moore, a progressive filmmaker and former surrogate for Sen. Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign, posted similar conspiracies in a lengthy Facebook post that he then linked on Twitter, where he called the president a liar and asked readers why they would believe him now.
“We must be skeptical. We must always remain skeptical when it comes to Trump. He may have it. But it’s also possible he’s lying. That’s just a fact,” Moore warned his followers.
“HE MAY USE THIS TO PUSH FOR DELAYING/POSTPONING THE ELECTION,” Moore wrote later in the post. “The constitution does not allow for this, but he doesn’t give a f*ck about the constitution. He and his thug Attorney General Barr have no shame and will stop at nothing to stay in power.”
The uncertainty of what happens next for the US after Trump’s diagnosis is fueling the misinformation and conspiracy theories, said Mike Rothschild, an expert in debunking conspiracy theories.
“It’s very destabilizing. We're at a moment in our country where we have absolutely no idea what happens next. Trump could be completely fine. He could be asymptomatic and recover well and be completely fine. Or he could die. Or be on a ventilator and incapable of making decisions. There are a lot of ways this could go really bad," Rothschild said.
Especially with a void of clear, reliable information about hugely consequential events, people are more inclined to believe unlikely schemes and plots are afoot, Rothschild said.
“And when you have an event like this, a world-shaking event that doesn't have a predetermined outcome, people fill in the knowledge gaps with conspiracy theories … that's why JFK conspiracy theories persist.”
The potential national security crisis that could come out of this situation could be exacerbated by the spread of left-wing conspiracies, Donovan said.
“On the left, there’s a lot of dangerous speculation going on suggesting that this is an advantage that the president may get over Biden if he emerges and survives having had coronavirus,” she said. She warned that the news could also offer opportunities for foreign governments to meddle in the election by amplifying public outrage.
Conspiracy theories aren’t just popping up in the realms of “resistance” Twitter where factions of voters who detest the president discuss the election and the president’s actions — they’re spreading on far-right corners of the internet too, including among believers of QAnon, a collective delusion that alleges President Donald Trump is fighting a Satanist cabal of elites who abuse children.
In some of those spaces, conspiracies about Biden and racist notions that China is responsible for the coronavirus (that the president has also pushed) have melded into conspiracies that coronavirus is an attempt to bring Trump down by the Biden campaign and China.
“Could Trump catching COVID-19 technically be viewed as an assassination attempt on our president by the Chinese?” tweeted DeAnna Lorraine, a right-wing conspiracy theorist.
“If we don’t deal with this now, it’s not that we’re going to see a war break out with China,” Donovan said. “But we’re going to see hate crimes against people who are Chinese, Chinese Americans, and Asian people in general because there’s such a culture of fear and misunderstanding that’s been created for some people in the United States about coronavirus.”
One entirely unfounded QAnon theory is that Trump would at some point be whisked away to a secure location while mass arrests of Democratic politicians ensue.
After the president announced his positive test with the tweet “Tonight, @FLOTUS and I tested positive for COVID-19. We will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately. We will get through this TOGETHER!”, QAnon believers online dissected his wording to come up with the theory that he was in fact sending a message that “WE WILL ALL GET THROUGH THIS TO GET HER,” as one believer tweeted, “her” being Hillary Clinton.
“QAnon tells this very compelling story, and it's a story that its believers really want to be real and have invested an enormous amount of time and effort in being real,” said Rothschild. “They’re digital soldiers, they are fighting not just a political party that they have disagreements with but the literal forces of Satan.”
Trump has a long history of engaging in conspiracy theories since well before he was president. That was especially clear with his aggressive promotion of the false conspiracy theory that Barack Obama was not actually born in the United States.
“He wasn't a politician until he started embracing conspiracy theories,” Rothschild said.
He said it’s not surprising Trump is handling the situation in a way that doesn’t directly dispel the uncertainty about what’s really happening.
“These are his people, so when something like QAnon comes down the pipe, he’s not going to denounce it. He's going to do everything he can to throw red meat to those people because those are his people,” he added.
Donovan added that the embrace of conspiracies that popped up in the hours after Trump announced his diagnosis is just a part of larger problems that the country is going to have to face in the months after the election.
“Trump has set up a situation where there’s going to be some doubt about the veracity of the election results,” Donovan said. “This new development really exacerbates an already intense situation.”
Jane Lytvynenko contributed reporting to this story.


buzzfeed--2020-10-03--White House Officials Flouted Coronavirus Guidance At Their Supreme Court Celebration. It Was Likely

White House Officials Flouted Coronavirus Guidance At Their Supreme Court Celebration. It Was Likely A Superspreader Event.

“ I hope this serves as an important reminder that the virus doesn ’ t discriminate , that you can catch it whoever you are , and it ’ s a risk and it ’ s real , ” one expert said of the White House cluster .
The White House gathering on Sept. 26 to introduce Amy Coney Barrett as President Donald Trump ’ s nominee to serve on the Supreme Court has emerged as a likely superspreader event in the growing cluster of COVID-19 cases surrounding the president .
So far , the majority of the people who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Garden gathering and associated events , including individuals whose schedules would otherwise not obviously have brought them together .
And the timing of their reported positive tests fits with the date of the event .
It was also surrounded by other meetings with key Republicans to discuss the coming confirmation hearings .
Trump ’ s wife , Melania , former New Jersey Gov .
Chris Christie , who had prepped Trump for Tuesday ’ s debate , Kellyanne Conway , the former counsellor to Trump who left the White House in late August @ @ @ @ @ @ @ were Senators Mike Lee and Thom Tillis , members of the Senate Judiciary Committee that will consider Barrett ’ s nomination , and Rev .
John I. Jenkins , president of Notre Dame University , where she is a law professor .
( Barrett herself was reportedly infected with the coronavirus earlier this year and tested negative on Friday . )
Far from shifting the narrative away from the president ’ s mishandling of the coronavirus crisis , as his supporters would have hoped , the event has turned into an emblem of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ practice of holding largely maskless gatherings without social distancing .
“ I find this to be one of the single most appalling things that has happened in the past few months , ” Kate Grabowski , an epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins University , said of the spectacle of repeated Trump rallies and other gatherings with few precautions to reduce viral transmission .
“ I hope this serves as an important reminder that the virus doesn ’ t discriminate , that you can catch it whoever you are , and it ’ s a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Photos and videos from the Supreme Court nomination event show attendees mingling and hugging .
While Barrett was formally introduced , more than 150 people sat packed together in rows of chairs on the White House Rose Garden lawn , with very few wearing masks .
The Rose Garden event was accompanied by indoor gatherings where the risk of viral transmission is especially high .
Before Barrett was introduced , Trump and at least eight others , including his wife , Christie , Lee , and Tillis , reportedly met with her inside @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a series of indoor receptions , the Washington Post reported .
Experts told BuzzFeed News that it may not be possible to uncover the exact chain of viral transmission within Trump ’ s circle — nor to determine how the president himself became infected .
“ There ’ s a ton of unknowns and it ’ s hard to figure out , ” said Carl Bergstrom , a theoretical biologist at the University of Washington in Seattle .
But research has shown that some people are particularly likely to transmit the coronavirus .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ published on Sept. 17 , for instance , estimated that 19 % of the people infected were responsible for 80 % of local viral transmission .
It only takes one of these “ superspreaders ” at an event like Barrett ’ s nomination to seed a series of cases .
“ One of the critical things to keep in mind here is that a lot of people are going to events with a lot of other people who may have the coronavirus , ” Grabowski said .
“ This is part of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ large gatherings in the middle of a pandemic.
” Those who attended the Sept. 26 White House gathering were tested beforehand .
For months , the White House seems to rely on a rapid testing device developed by Abbott Laboratories that can deliver results within 15 minutes .
But there ’ s a problem with using the Abbott test for screening in this way : It has only been authorized for use on patients showing symptoms and is thought to deliver a high number of false negatives .
In one study published in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ University ’ s Langone Hospitals ER , it gave negative results in up to 45 % of cases in which a rival test produced a positive result .
As more cases emerge , contact tracers will be racing to test all those who attended the Barrett event , encouraging them to self isolate , and identifying their social contacts .
“ For people at the Rose Garden , I would want to see them tested and minimizing their contacts with other people in the interim , ” Bergstrom said .
On Saturday , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the White House medical unit in conjunction with , in collaboration with CDC and local state and health departments , are conducting all contact tracing per CDC guidelines.
” Those in close proximity to the president and his entourage throughout this time include members of the White House press corps , three of whom have so far tested positive for the coronavirus .

Far from shifting the narrative away from the president’s mishandling of the coronavirus crisis, as his supporters would have hoped, the event has turned into an emblem of the dangers posed by Trump’s practice of holding largely maskless gatherings without social distancing.
“I find this to be one of the single most appalling things that has happened in the past few months,” Kate Grabowski, an epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins University, said of the spectacle of repeated Trump rallies and other gatherings with few precautions to reduce viral transmission. “I hope this serves as an important reminder that the virus doesn’t discriminate, that you can catch it whoever you are, and it’s a risk and it’s real.”
Photos and videos from the Supreme Court nomination event show attendees mingling and hugging. While Barrett was formally introduced, more than 150 people sat packed together in rows of chairs on the White House Rose Garden lawn, with very few wearing masks.
The Rose Garden event was accompanied by indoor gatherings where the risk of viral transmission is especially high. Before Barrett was introduced, Trump and at least eight others, including his wife, Christie, Lee, and Tillis, reportedly met with her inside the White House. The celebrations included a series of indoor receptions, the Washington Post reported.
Experts told BuzzFeed News that it may not be possible to uncover the exact chain of viral transmission within Trump’s circle — nor to determine how the president himself became infected. “There’s a ton of unknowns and it’s hard to figure out,” said Carl Bergstrom, a theoretical biologist at the University of Washington in Seattle.


buzzfeed--2020-10-04--Trump's Doctor Dodged Questions About The President's Coronavirus Diagnosis

Dr. Sean Conley 's answers and statements to reporters were unclear on whether the president has ever needed oxygen to combat COVID-19 .
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump ’ s doctor was evasive on major details of the president ’ s illness , including the timeline of his treatments , in a short and highly anticipated press conference Saturday morning .
And just moments after the press conference ended , an unnamed source told reporters entirely contradicting information : that the president 's health has been `` very concerning , '' the opposite of the upbeat report Trump 's doctor @ @ @ @ @ @ @ told reporters that the president is not currently on oxygen , but would not say definitively that he has not needed supplemental oxygen since he began being treated for COVID-19 .
The New York Times later reported , and multiple outlets confirmed , that Trump was given supplemental oxygen on Friday at the White House after his oxygen level dropped .
Conley also said the president is “ 72 hours into the diagnosis ” and his team said Trump had received an experimental antibody cocktail `` 48 hours ago '' — changing the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ late Thursday , when Trump announced his test , to Wednesday .
A little more than an hour after the press conference , Conley released a new memo to the media saying he misspoke and that Trump was first diagnosed Thursday night and received the antibody cocktail on Friday .
Throughout , Conley insisted Trump was recovering well .
“ Thursday he had a mild cough and some nasal congestion and fatigue , all of which are now improving , ” he told reporters .
The president ’ s physician would not answer @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lung damage so far .
Minutes after Conley had finished speaking , the White House press pool sent a report with much more troubling views , sourced to someone `` familiar with the president ’ s health . ''
“ The president ’ s vitals over the last 24 hours were very concerning and the next 48 hours will be critical in terms of his care , '' that person said .
`` We ’ re still not on a clear path to a full recovery.
” The White House pool report , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ White House at many media organizations , did not specify the source .
But after Conley 's press conference , White House chief of staff Mark Meadows was captured on video gathering reporters present to speak privately , off-the-record .
This matters beyond the detailed rules of journalism : There 's a White House official , who asked not to be named , speaking privately moments after the president 's own physician held a widely-viewed and unclear press conference .
Hours later , the Associated Press and the New York Times attributed the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to Meadows .
Meadows then gave a statement on the record to Reuters saying Trump is doing “ very well ” and that “ doctors are pleased with his vital signs.
” Later Saturday night , Trump tweeted a four-minute video address from Walter Reed , where he spoke about his condition in a clearly hoarse voice , and in a rare appearance without a tie .
`` I came here , was n't feeling so well , I feel much better now , '' Trump said .
`` We 're working hard @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , I have to be back because we still have to make America great again . ''
He said he was `` starting to feel good , '' but would `` be seeing what happens over the next couple of days . ''
He added that he had the `` choice '' to stay in the White House , but decided not to in order to be `` out front '' and `` not locked up in a room upstairs . ''
He is currently in Walter Reed hospital , and it 's @ @ @ @ @ @ @ `` We 're going to beat this coronavirus , or whatever you want to call it , and we 're going to beat it soundly , '' he said .
Trump 's stance that he is improving substantially within 24 hours conflicts with what doctors have said about how COVID-19 courses through patients — it 's often not a linear progression , there are some days where a person may feel fine followed by days where a person may feel seriously ill. And it 's the week after an initial diagnosis that can @ @ @ @ @ @ @ main thing to realize about this is that this is week one of his illness — week two is the worst , '' said Cedric Dark , an assistant professor of emergency medicine at Baylor College of Medicine .
He added that the second week of COVID-19 infection is when the body 's own inflammatory response to the virus can lead to severely injured lungs .
`` That 's when oxygenation tends to dip significantly . ''
`` Everyone 's talking about what happened the last two , three days .
I would @ @ @ @ @ @ @ three days .
I 'd watch him like a hawk the next week , '' Dark said .
Conley had told reporters Trump had been fever-free for over 24 hours , but would not say what his fever had previously been .
“ Thursday no oxygen , none at this moment , and yesterday with the team while we were all here he was not on oxygen , ” Conley said when pressed , never ruling out the hours between the time the president announced his diagnosis and Conley ’ s treatment update @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Conley was one of 10 people on the president ’ s medical team at the event , including several pulmonary doctors and an anesthesia specialist .
Dr. Sean Dooley said Trump told doctors Saturday morning , “ I feel like I could walk out of here today , ” and that the president was not struggling to breathe .
`` I ’ m old enough to remember the press briefings from Dennis O'Leary when President Reagan was shot .
They were models of clarity and transparency .
The country found them truly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ say this one did not meet that standard , '' said Bob Wachter , chair of the department of medicine at the University of California , San Francisco .
Conley 's `` job is to give clear credible accurate information .
We got misdirection , we got confusion , we got evasiveness , '' Wachter added .
`` This was sort of a first pass to see whether we ’ re going to be able to believe what the White House puts out about Trump 's condition , and I ’ ve come @ @ @ @ @ @ @ going to put out propaganda rather than truth . ''
Dark noted that Trump 's reported oxygen saturation , 96 % , was below normal but not at a level that would currently require supplemental oxygen .
But both Dark and Wachter said that being given supplemental oxygen at some point is not unusual .
`` The decision to provide supplemental oxygen is sometimes like putting a blanket on somebody — it ’ s harmless and it ’ s cheap , '' Wachter said .
He noted that the bigger concern would be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ dipped considerably at any point .
The president tweeted early Friday morning that he and the first lady tested positive for the coronavirus .
That was the last the president was heard from for many hours : By mid-afternoon , the Trump campaign announced all events involving the president would be postponed or moved to virtual .
Soon after , the White House released a memo from Sean P. Conley , the president ’ s physician , on his course of treatment , which included an 8-gram dose of an experimental antibody cocktail @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , melatonin , and a daily aspirin .
Trump was helicoptered to Walter Reed Hospital early Friday evening per Conley ’ s recommendation , according to the White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany .
She said the president would be working from there for “ the next few days.
” Before walking to the helicopter without speaking to reporters , Trump recorded a brief video that was posted to Twitter .
Later Friday night , the White House issued another physician ’ s memo to say the president was taking the drug remdesivir @ @ @ @ @ @ @ oxygen .
Just before midnight , Trump tweeted a short and uncertain update : There is still no cure for COVID-19 , and the FDA has not given its standard approval to any drugs to treat the illness .
Trump ’ s treatment course includes a very new and experimental antibody treatment made by the company Regeneron , in combination with a more established , but still unproven , antiviral drug , remdesivir , which he received when he was moved to Walter Reed Hospital .
Asked about the decision to put Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the course of his illness , Conley said , “ We 're maximizing all aspects of his care , attacking this virus , you know , multi-prong approach.
” The Regeneron experimental antibody treatment is a combination of two lab-made antibodies .
Early data has shown that it could be effective in reducing the amount of virus present when given early on in an infection .
But the biotech firm did not release full data—only releasing early data via a press release four days ago .
Since the treatment does not have any @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the treatment via a “ compassionate use ” exception for emergency cases .
Some scientists have criticized use of the experimental therapy on the president , saying that not enough data has been made public .
`` I personally do n't care what your viral load is — because I treat your clinical condition , '' said Dark , who noted that because only limited information was released via press release , clinicians could not know enough about the effects of using the drug .
`` There 's nothing that 's actually a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ you from requiring oxygen , or needing to go to the ICU , or mortality reduction .
We do n't have that kind of information that I as a practicing clinician would want to say that this drug is better than doing nothing . ''
In contrast , the antiviral drug remdesivir is a more commonly used treatment that received emergency authorization in May , allowing for its use in hospitalized patients .
However , remdesivir has also not made it through a full FDA approval process , which would require clinical trial @ @ @ @ @ @ @ safe and effective .
Early studies of remdesivir had mixed , but promising , results .
One trial of 1,063 patients suggested that the drug provided a benefit for people with moderate infection .
Compared to a placebo , use of the drug reduced hospital stays from 15 to 11 days , but did not have any measurable effect on the number of people who died .
Another small trial halted use of the drug after it led to significant side effects .
On Friday , the European Union ’ s medical regulator @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ acute ” kidney damage in patients given the drug .
On Saturday morning , Conley said that Trump ’ s kidney function was being closely monitored and so far was normal .
He stated that they planned to keep Trump on a full five-day course of the antiviral drug .
Asked when the president might be discharged , Conley refused to provide an answer , saying that the medical team was still concerned about the latter phase of Trump 's illness .
“ Well , I do n't want to put a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ doing so well , ” Conley said .
“ But with the known course of the illness , day seven to ten , we get really concerned about the inflammatory phase , phase two .
”

"I came here, wasn't feeling so well. I feel much better now," Trump said. "We're working hard to get me all the way back, I have to be back because we still have to make America great again." He said he was "starting to feel good," but would "be seeing what happens over the next couple of days." He added that he had the "choice" to stay in the White House, but decided not to in order to be "out front" and "not locked up in a room upstairs." He is currently in Walter Reed hospital, and it's unclear when he will be leaving.
"We're going to beat this coronavirus, or whatever you want to call it, and we're going to beat it soundly," he said.
Trump's stance that he is improving substantially within 24 hours conflicts with what doctors have said about how COVID-19 courses through patients — it's often not a linear progression, there are some days where a person may feel fine followed by days where a person may feel seriously ill. And it's the week after an initial diagnosis that can be far more treacherous.
"The main thing to realize about this is that this is week one of his illness — week two is the worst," said Cedric Dark, an assistant professor of emergency medicine at Baylor College of Medicine. He added that the second week of COVID-19 infection is when the body's own inflammatory response to the virus can lead to severely injured lungs. "That's when oxygenation tends to dip significantly."
"Everyone's talking about what happened the last two, three days. I wouldn't worry about the last two, three days. I'd watch him like a hawk the next week," Dark said.
Conley had told reporters Trump had been fever-free for over 24 hours, but would not say what his fever had previously been.
“Thursday no oxygen, none at this moment, and yesterday with the team while we were all here he was not on oxygen,” Conley said when pressed, never ruling out the hours between the time the president announced his diagnosis and Conley’s treatment update, which came at 4 p.m. on Friday.
Conley was one of 10 people on the president’s medical team at the event, including several pulmonary doctors and an anesthesia specialist. Dr. Sean Dooley said Trump told doctors Saturday morning, “I feel like I could walk out of here today,” and that the president was not struggling to breathe.
"I’m old enough to remember the press briefings from Dennis O'Leary when President Reagan was shot. They were models of clarity and transparency. The country found them truly reassuring. And let’s just say this one did not meet that standard," said Bob Wachter, chair of the department of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco.
Conley's "job is to give clear credible accurate information. We got misdirection, we got confusion, we got evasiveness," Wachter added. "This was sort of a first pass to see whether we’re going to be able to believe what the White House puts out about Trump's condition, and I’ve come out of this thinking they’re going to put out propaganda rather than truth."
Dark noted that Trump's reported oxygen saturation, 96%, was below normal but not at a level that would currently require supplemental oxygen. But both Dark and Wachter said being given supplemental oxygen at some point is not unusual. "The decision to provide supplemental oxygen is sometimes like putting a blanket on somebody — it’s harmless and it’s cheap," Wachter said. He noted that the bigger concern would be knowing if Trump's oxygen saturation had dipped considerably at any point.
The president tweeted early Friday morning that he and the first lady tested positive for the coronavirus. That was the last the president was heard from for many hours: By mid-afternoon, the Trump campaign announced all events involving the president would be postponed or moved to virtual. Soon after, the White House released a memo from Sean P. Conley, the president’s physician, on his course of treatment, which included an 8-gram dose of an experimental antibody cocktail, zinc, vitamin D, famotidine, melatonin, and a daily aspirin.
Trump was helicoptered to Walter Reed Hospital early Friday evening per Conley’s recommendation, according to the White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany. She said the president would be working from there for “the next few days.” Before walking to the helicopter without speaking to reporters, Trump recorded a brief video that was posted to Twitter.
Later Friday night, the White House issued another physician’s memo to say the president was taking the drug remdesivir but was not in need of supplemental oxygen. Just before midnight, Trump tweeted a short and uncertain update:


buzzfeed--2020-10-03--I Am The Politics Editor And I Have Absolutely No Idea What Happens Next

When the president of the United States is diagnosed with a virus that has killed more than 1 million people , 32 days out from the election , some questions about our democracy naturally arise , such as : AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH ?
It ’ s only been single-digit hours since President Donald Trump announced his positive COVID-19 test , and few questions have any answers .
I ’ ve been writing a version of the Donald Trump Has the Coronavirus story since March , when news broke that the president had potentially been exposed to the virus at Mar-a-Lago .
I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ editor , have regularly updated that prewritten story ever since with more and more grim updates about the virus and the administration ’ s botched response .
I still woke up shocked to see that it had been published , even after the Hope Hicks news Thursday night .
As you try to focus your brain on this Friday morning , in a year that hasn ’ t been exactly predictable , it is…pretty OK and accurate to be really thrown off by this one .
It ’ s good to accept you @ @ @ @ @ @ @ happen next .
None of us has any idea what is going to happen next .
Whatever you feel about Trump , it has been almost 40 years since there ’ s been such an open question about the health and stability of a US president .
This is not the sort of thing that normally happens so close to an election .
I ’ m not going to pretend here to have many answers to anything right now ( good luck , reporters ! )
.
But there are a few directions @ @ @ @ @ @ @ you settle into this new , escalated-chaos reality .
What happens to the presidential campaign ?
This deeply weird presidential campaign as we know it could theoretically be over .
If Trump commits to quarantining for the CDC recommended minimum , he would be sheltered from the public until at least mid-October .
We don ’ t know if there are going to be large-scale Trump rallies .
We don ’ t yet know if there will be future presidential debates .
Who else in politics could have been exposed ?
We don @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of this , or know how long Trump himself has had the virus or could have been contagious for .
But this has been one of the most high-contact weeks of the presidential campaign .
Supreme Court justice nominee Amy Coney Barrett last saw Trump on Saturday , the White House said .
The debate was on Tuesday , where Trump yelled at Joe Biden and moderator Chris Wallace — inside — for 90 minutes .
The debate hall was filled with Trump and Biden family members , and the Trump side of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ) not masked .
We don ’ t yet know what Biden or his campaign plan to do in the coming days in response , though we do know that Biden ’ s campaign says he is regularly tested .
What happens to….the election ?
More than 2 million people have already voted .
It ’ s really hard to imagine something dramatic changing at this point , though things have been dramatically changing at a regular pace .
If Trump or Biden is not able to serve as president and has to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ parties would technically decide on their replacements .
This has never happened before , and if it had to happen now , it would come so close to the election with so many people already voting that it ’ s right now unfathomable to say how it would work .
It ’ s really hard to imagine countless millions of ballots being reprinted in a worst-case scenario .
Trump and his allies have already spent months trying to suggest that the election might be rigged or faulty .
The mind boggles .
What @ @ @ @ @ @ @ us what this really means for the election ?
Could this have any impact on who people actually decide to vote for ?
Who knows !
Voters ’ minds have seemed very made up for months now , but this isn ’ t exactly a normal event .
Trump , one could argue , could be the beneficiary of a wave of sympathy if he publicly handles this right .
Or , one could counter , Trump has just again proven how reckless he ’ s been throughout the pandemic , how his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ always going to end like this .
Trump ’ s case against Biden has often boiled down to a machismo-infused “ toughness ” : that he ’ s the one who ’ s mentally and physically fit enough to take on America ’ s adversaries , foreign and domestic .
How does that argument work now with Trump potentially fighting a very deadly virus in the weeks before the election ?
Or if he winds up being asymptomatic , does this just become proof of concept to his base ?
It is going @ @ @ @ @ @ @ questions begin to have true answers .
Literally , the incubation time for the virus is days .
We are not going to know much of anything for days .
It is OK to be uncertain .
This whole year has been uncertain .
We ’ re all very practiced .

When the president of the United States is diagnosed with a virus that has killed more than 1 million people, 32 days out from the election, some questions about our democracy naturally arise, such as: AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH?
It’s only been single-digit hours since President Donald Trump announced his positive COVID-19 test, and few questions have any answers.
I’ve been writing a version of the Donald Trump Has the Coronavirus story since March, when news broke that the president had potentially been exposed to the virus at Mar-a-Lago. I, along with BuzzFeed News’ science editor, have regularly updated that prewritten story ever since with more and more grim updates about the virus and the administration’s botched response. I still woke up shocked to see that it had been published, even after the Hope Hicks news Thursday night.
As you try to focus your brain on this Friday morning, in a year that hasn’t been exactly predictable, it is…pretty OK and accurate to be really thrown off by this one.
It’s good to accept you have no idea what is going to happen next. None of us has any idea what is going to happen next. Whatever you feel about Trump, it has been almost 40 years since there’s been such an open question about the health and stability of a US president. This is not the sort of thing that normally happens so close to an election.
I’m not going to pretend here to have many answers to anything right now (good luck, reporters!). But there are a few directions worth letting your mind wander to as you settle into this new, escalated-chaos reality.
What happens to the presidential campaign? This deeply weird presidential campaign as we know it could theoretically be over. If Trump commits to quarantining for the CDC recommended minimum, he would be sheltered from the public until at least mid-October. We don’t know if there are going to be large-scale Trump rallies. We don’t yet know if there will be future presidential debates.
Who else in politics could have been exposed? We don’t yet have a full idea of this, or know how long Trump himself has had the virus or could have been contagious for. But this has been one of the most high-contact weeks of the presidential campaign. Supreme Court justice nominee Amy Coney Barrett last saw Trump on Saturday, the White House said. The debate was on Tuesday, where Trump yelled at Joe Biden and moderator Chris Wallace — inside — for 90 minutes. The debate hall was filled with Trump and Biden family members, and the Trump side of the hall was (at least largely) not masked. We don’t yet know what Biden or his campaign plan to do in the coming days in response, though we do know that Biden’s campaign says he is regularly tested.
What happens to….the election? More than 2 million people have already voted. It’s really hard to imagine something dramatic changing at this point, though things have been dramatically changing at a regular pace. If Trump or Biden is not able to serve as president and has to withdraw from the election, their respective parties would technically decide on their replacements. This has never happened before, and if it had to happen now, it would come so close to the election with so many people already voting that it’s right now unfathomable to say how it would work. It’s really hard to imagine countless millions of ballots being reprinted in a worst-case scenario. Trump and his allies have already spent months trying to suggest that the election might be rigged or faulty. The mind boggles.
What should we think about pundits who tell us what this really means for the election? Could this have any impact on who people actually decide to vote for? Who knows! Voters’ minds have seemed very made up for months now, but this isn’t exactly a normal event. Trump, one could argue, could be the beneficiary of a wave of sympathy if he publicly handles this right. Or, one could counter, Trump has just again proven how reckless he’s been throughout the pandemic, how his bungled response to a deadly virus was always going to end like this.
Trump’s case against Biden has often boiled down to a machismo-infused “toughness”: that he’s the one who’s mentally and physically fit enough to take on America’s adversaries, foreign and domestic. How does that argument work now with Trump potentially fighting a very deadly virus in the weeks before the election? Or if he winds up being asymptomatic, does this just become proof of concept to his base?
It is going to be days until many of these questions begin to have true answers. Literally, the incubation time for the virus is days. We are not going to know much of anything for days. It is OK to be uncertain. This whole year has been uncertain. We’re all very practiced.
Anyway, back to screaming.


buzzfeed--2020-10-04--Don't Fall For This Viral Conspiracy Claiming Trump Carried A Hidden Oxygen Tank On The Way To The H

Don't Fall For This Viral Conspiracy Claiming Trump Carried A Hidden Oxygen Tank On The Way To The Hospital

In the wake of news about President Donald Trump being diagnosed with the coronavirus , falsehoods and conspiracies began spreading widely .
One of those conspiracies was fueled by a viral tweet falsely claiming that Trump was using a hidden oxygen tank as he boarded Marine One , the helicopter that took him to Walter Reed hospital , on Friday .
The tweet was posted the night before a baffling Saturday morning press conference with the president 's doctors that added to the confusion over his condition .
It showed a series of low-resolution images and what looked like a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 's head .
The person who posted it claimed that creases in the president 's suit prove he was carrying a hidden oxygen tank .
The conspiracy traveled far .
Aside from getting 14,000 retweets and 28,000 likes overnight , people also reposted it to Facebook , Instagram , and TikTok .
The account that posted the tweet has since been suspended .
Other images of Trump walking to the helicopter do n't support the false narrative .
A photo taken from the same angle shows no tubes or other oxygen tank equipment @ @ @ @ @ @

In the wake of news about President Donald Trump being diagnosed with the coronavirus, falsehoods and conspiracies began spreading widely.
One of those conspiracies was fueled by a viral tweet falsely claiming that Trump was using a hidden oxygen tank as he boarded Marine One, the helicopter that took him to Walter Reed hospital, on Friday.
The tweet was posted the night before a baffling Saturday morning press conference with the president's doctors that added to the confusion over his condition. It showed a series of low-resolution images and what looked like a manipulated photo of the back of Trump's head. The person who posted it claimed that creases in the president's suit prove he was carrying a hidden oxygen tank.
The conspiracy traveled far. Aside from getting 14,000 retweets and 28,000 likes overnight, people also reposted it to Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. The account that posted the tweet has since been suspended.
Other images of Trump walking to the helicopter don't support the false narrative. A photo taken from the same angle shows no tubes or other oxygen tank equipment on the president's person.


buzzfeed--2020-10-04--Trump Was Flown To Walter Reed Hospital To Stay For Several Days After Getting COVID-19

The president will stay at the hospital `` out of an abundance of caution , and at the recommendation of his physician and medical experts . ''
President Donald Trump , wearing a mask and not saying a word to assembled reporters , walked onto a waiting helicopter on the White House lawn and was flown to Walter Reed Medical Center on Friday afternoon , less than 24 hours after he tested positive for the coronavirus .
“ I think I ’ m doing very well , but we ’ re going to make sure that things work out , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ video tweeted not long after he left the White House .
The difference in Trump 's tone and behavior on Friday afternoon simply can not be overstated .
Usually , on his way to his helicopter , Marine One , Trump stops and talks to assembled reporters , often spreading false information .
He rarely , if ever , wears a mask .
And his recorded videos are often longer and more spirited or combative .
Instead , Trump boarded the helicopter with a quick thumbs-up and wave to reporters and his aides @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who staff Marine One .
When he landed at Walter Reed , he saluted again and then got into a waiting SUV .
Trump will spend `` several days '' at the medical facility `` working , '' White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said .
“ President Trump remains in good spirits , has mild symptoms , and has been working throughout the day .
Out of an abundance of caution , and at the recommendation of his physician and medical experts , the President will be working from the presidential offices @ @ @ @ @ @ @ days .
President Trump appreciates the outpouring of support for both he and the First Lady , ” McEnany said .
Trump ’ s hospitalization comes after he spent months downplaying the seriousness of COVID-19 , holding large campaign rallies , and refusing to wear a mask with rare exceptions .
He continued traveling and campaigning in recent months , including flying on Air Force One with multiple White House officials to a campaign event in New Jersey on Thursday after his top aide Hope Hicks had tested positive .
Trump had canceled @ @ @ @ @ @ @ incredible development after he insisted on pandemic rallies where masses of people , many unmasked , crammed in to see him .
Pence — defying the CDC ’ s quarantine guidelines — will continue campaigning .
The president did not make any public appearances on Friday before boarding the helicopter .
He has also tweeted only once since announcing his positive diagnosis just before 1 a.m. on Friday .
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Sen. Lindsey Graham said they had spoken to Trump by phone on Friday about the Supreme Court vacancy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ before the president took off for the hospital that his father is a `` true warrior '' and asked Americans to join in `` praying for his recovery . ''
If the president becomes incapacitated , Vice President Mike Pence can take over Trump ’ s duties under a process outlined in the 25th Amendment to the Constitution and serve in an acting role if the president authorizes the action .
( A different section of the 25th Amendment allows the vice president and cabinet to force the issue , but that part @ @ @ @ @ @ @ . )
Pence most recently tested negative for the virus on Friday , according to his spokesperson .
Trump ’ s physician offered a brief statement about his condition on Friday , less than 15 hours after the president said he had contracted COVID-19 , a disease that just months ago he insisted would just “ disappear.
” The White House physician , Sean P. Conley , wrote in a memo Friday that Trump remained “ fatigued but in good spirits.
” That notion lightly conflicted with press secretary Kayleigh McEnany ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ needed to “ hold him back a little here because he is hard at work . ''
And it didn ’ t include reporting from White House journalists who say Trump is experiencing a low-grade fever , a light cough , and congestion .
Trump , as a precautionary measure , “ received a single 8 gram dose of Regeneron ’ s polyclonal antibody cocktail , ” Conley wrote , adding he ’ s also been taking “ zinc , vitamin D , famotidine , melatonin and a daily aspirin.
” Recent results @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have indicated that when administered early in an infection to nonhospitalized patients , the treatment could reduce the amounts of virus in the body and lead to shorter hospital stays .
No treatments for COVID-19 have yet been approved by the FDA .
But companies can grant emergency access to experimental treatments under FDA ’ s “ compassionate use ” guidelines .
Regeneron ’ s CEO is a longtime acquaintance of Trump ’ s .
“ He ’ s being evaluated by a team of experts , ” Conley said , adding they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lady Melania Trump , who also tested positive , has a “ mild cough ” and headache .
It ’ s unclear how severe Trump ’ s illness is .
At 74 , the president has a higher risk of a severe case of COVID-19 due to his age and his weight ; his medical disclosure in June puts him at 244 pounds , just over the threshold for obesity for his height .
It is unknown if he has any underlying medical conditions that would also contribute to his risk of severe @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have access to the best medical care in the world .
As recently as mid-September , Trump touted herd immunity as a way to combat the coronavirus , suggesting the virus was “ going away.
” His administration ’ s mishandling of the pandemic has led to more than 200,000 deaths in the US .
There is a month left before the election .
Trump is scheduled to meet former vice president Joe Biden for their second presidential debate on Oct. 15 .
There was no immediate decision on whether it would be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Trump ’ s diagnosis has spread , almost literally , across the nation .
The head of the Republican National Committee , Ronna McDaniel , announced she tested positive .
Utah Sen. Mike Lee did as well .
And the University of Notre Dame ’ s president , Rev .
John Jenkins , also announced he has the coronavirus .
All three had been around Trump as recently as last Friday .
It also set off a mad scramble at the highest levels of government .
Vice President Mike Pence , former @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the House Nancy Pelosi , Attorney General Bill Barr , Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris , Ivanka Trump , Jared Kushner , and 14-year-old Barron Trump all tested negative , their representatives said .
That doesn ’ t mean the people who tested negative are actually COVID-free , given their potential exposure to the president .
The virus can incubate for up to 14 days , and their test results could change , which is why the CDC recommends a 14-day quarantine for anyone who has come into contact with someone who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s diagnosis did not stop members of the Republican Party from ignoring basic coronavirus protocols , including those recommended by Trump ’ s own administration scientists .
The White House will reportedly not mandate that staffers wear masks on campus — Trump was tested only after it was revealed Hicks was positive — calling it “ a personal choice.
” Trump 's chief of staff , Mark Meadows , briefed the press at the White House on Friday without a face covering .
Sen. Chuck Grassley , one of the GOP 's @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not take a test despite being in proximity to Sen. Mike Lee recently .
Trump ’ s diagnosis also means scores of journalists — including several top leaders of Trump ’ s cheerleader network , Fox News — Secret Service agents , and attendees and workers at Tuesday ’ s debate need to get tested .
In April , UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson was admitted to the ICU , 10 days after testing positive for the coronavirus and having his symptoms worsen .
Five days later , Johnson was released .
He @ @ @ @ @ @ @ no cure for COVID-19 , and there are no approved treatments .
But since April , options for managing severe symptoms have improved considerably , leading to a decline in death rates and better outcomes for those hospitalized .
Many patients will require help getting oxygen to their lungs , initially administered nasally or through a mask , or by flipping them onto their stomachs , which can help open up their lungs to breathe .
If a patient is in severe respiratory distress , doctors could choose to move them onto a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ air in and out of the lungs .
Since using ventilators is a more invasive procedure that requires intubating patients , doctors are still divided on when they are a necessary intervention .
But for hospitalized patients , two treatments have so far proven the most helpful : a cheap steroid called dexamethasone , which was shown to reduce deaths in severely ill patients by a third , and an antiviral drug called remdesivir , which received emergency authorization by the FDA in May .
Neither has yet gone through the FDA ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ require conclusive evidence that they are safe and effective .
So far , Trump ’ s physician has disclosed that he has been receiving Regeneron ’ s experimental antibody treatment .
A second synthetic antibody treatment made by Eli Lilly has also shown promise .
Throughout the pandemic , Trump boosted several treatment options that are unproven or considered dangerous , at one point suggesting that experts shine ultraviolet light inside the body to eliminate the virus or inject people with disinfectants .
Most notably , amid pressure from Trump , the FDA @ @ @ @ @ @ @ later revoking it after studies showed that it was ineffective and could cause heart problems .
In August , Trump pushed for the FDA to issue an emergency authorization for convalescent plasma , an intervention that uses the antibodies from people who have recovered from COVID-19 but has not yet been shown to be effective in rigorous clinical trials .

President Donald Trump, wearing a mask and not saying a word to assembled reporters, walked onto a waiting helicopter on the White House lawn and was flown to Walter Reed Medical Center on Friday afternoon, less than 24 hours after he tested positive for the coronavirus.
“I think I’m doing very well, but we’re going to make sure that things work out,” Trump said in a prerecorded 18-second video tweeted not long after he left the White House.
The difference in Trump's tone and behavior on Friday afternoon simply cannot be overstated. Usually, on his way to his helicopter, Marine One, Trump stops and talks to assembled reporters, often spreading false information. He rarely, if ever, wears a mask. And his recorded videos are often longer and more spirited or combative.
Instead, Trump boarded the helicopter with a quick thumbs-up and wave to reporters and his aides and a salute to the service members who staff Marine One. When he landed at Walter Reed, he saluted again and then got into a waiting SUV.
Trump will spend "several days" at the medical facility "working," White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said.
“President Trump remains in good spirits, has mild symptoms, and has been working throughout the day. Out of an abundance of caution, and at the recommendation of his physician and medical experts, the President will be working from the presidential offices at Walter Reed for the next few days. President Trump appreciates the outpouring of support for both he and the First Lady,” McEnany said.


buzzfeed--2020-10-04--A Senator Wrote An Impassioned Letter To Her Colleagues About Her IVF Treatment And Trump’s Supreme

A Senator Wrote An Impassioned Letter To Her Colleagues About Her IVF Treatment And Trump’s Supreme Court Nominee

Following reports that Amy Coney Barrett , President Donald Trump ’ s Supreme Court nominee , supported an anti-abortion group that opposes in vitro fertilization , Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois wrote an impassioned letter to her colleagues Friday , citing her own experience with IVF and the conception of her 2-year-old daughter , Maile .
“ I write to each of you today , and especially to my Republican colleagues who cooed and cuddled Maile when she first visited the Capitol , in the hope that you will fully consider the very real impact your vote on this unprecedented @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to start families of their own , ” Duckworth wrote .
“ I urge you to fully consider the message a vote in favor of a Supreme Court nominee who appears to believe that my daughters shouldn ’ t even exist sends not only to me as a mother and as your colleague , but to parents-to-be around this country struggling with infertility and whose dreams may only be achieved through IVF or other technologies.
” The letter , which was obtained by BuzzFeed News , is in reaction to a report from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ when Barrett was a law professor at Notre Dame , she publicly signed an advertisement in support of an anti-abortion organization that believes life begins at fertilization and that the IVF process amounts to abortion and should be criminalized .
The group — then called the St. Joseph County Right to Life but now named Right to Life Michiana — took out a two-page advertisement in the South Bend Tribune , a local paper for the Michiana region of Indiana .
The ad reads , “ We , the following citizens of Michiana @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the right to life from fertilization to natural death .
Please continue to pray to end abortion.
” Barrett signed this letter along with her husband Jesse , and hundreds of other supporters of the group , the Guardian reported .
While the advertisement itself did not explicitly address IVF , the group is openly opposed to the procedure .
“ We support the criminalization of the doctors who perform abortions .
At this point we are not supportive of criminalizing the women , ” Jackie Appleman , the group ’ s executive @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Guardian .
“ We would be supportive of criminalizing the discarding of frozen embryos or selective reduction through the IVF process.
” Barrett has repeatedly indicated that she does not support abortion , both in the personal views she expressed while a law professor at Notre Dame , and in her rulings on the issue .
When asked if Barrett signing on to the ad was reflective of her views and if she believes IVF should be criminalized , White House spokesperson Judd Deere provided BuzzFeed News with a quote from Barrett @ @ @ @ @ @ @ nomination : “ A judge must apply the law as written .
Judges are not policymakers , and they must be resolute in setting aside any policy views they might hold , ” Barrett said .
In 2018 , Duckworth made history by becoming the first senator to give birth while in office , and she spurred on a change in Senate rules to allow senators to bring their children onto the Senate floor for a vote , which she , adorably , did .
She has two daughters and has been very @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ While my two beautiful little girls are unique , my story of struggling with fertility is not , ” Duckworth wrote to colleagues Friday .
“ Assisted reproductive technology ( ART ) , including IVF treatment , has enabled thousands of Americans to safely start families in red and blue states alike.
” “ I fear that , if confirmed to the nation ’ s highest court , Judge Barrett would be unable to resist the temptation of overturning decades of judicial precedent in an effort to force every American family to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” Duckworth continued .
“ I fear that if a case involving ART were to be brought before the bench , families like mine would not be able to trust that her opinions would be based on facts , laws , and the Constitution rather than swayed by her personal beliefs.
” The opposition to , and especially the criminalization of , IVF is a controversial opinion , even by anti-abortion standards .
When Alabama passed a near-total ban on abortion in 2019 ( which has since been blocked in court ) , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Barrett ’ s views on abortion have quickly become a flashpoint for Democrats since her nomination was announced .
The second page of the ad Barrett signed explicitly addressed Roe , though the signatures were only on the first page .
“ It ’ s time to put an end to the barbaric legacy of Roe v. Wade and restore laws that protect the lives of unborn children , ” the ad read .
Deere pointed BuzzFeed News toward several other quotes and rulings from Barrett in which she reiterated that a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not their personal beliefs , including one from a 1998 law review article about whether Catholic judges like herself should recuse themselves from cases involving the death penalty , which the Catholic church is opposed to .
In that article , Barrett wrote , “ It is never appropriate for a judge to impose that judge ’ s personal convictions , whether they derive from faith or anywhere else , on the law , ” Deere pointed out .
However , in the article ’ s conclusion , she also wrote , “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ try to — align our legal system with the Church 's moral teaching whenever the two diverge .
They should , however , conform their own behavior to the Church 's standard .
Perhaps their good example will have some effect . ''

Following reports that Amy Coney Barrett, President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, supported an anti-abortion group that opposes in vitro fertilization, Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois wrote an impassioned letter to her colleagues Friday, citing her own experience with IVF and the conception of her 2-year-old daughter, Maile.
“I write to each of you today, and especially to my Republican colleagues who cooed and cuddled Maile when she first visited the Capitol, in the hope that you will fully consider the very real impact your vote on this unprecedented nomination could have on those Americans hoping to start families of their own,” Duckworth wrote.
“I urge you to fully consider the message a vote in favor of a Supreme Court nominee who appears to believe that my daughters shouldn’t even exist sends not only to me as a mother and as your colleague, but to parents-to-be around this country struggling with infertility and whose dreams may only be achieved through IVF or other technologies.”
The letter, which was obtained by BuzzFeed News, is in reaction to a report from the Guardian revealing that in 2006, when Barrett was a law professor at Notre Dame, she publicly signed an advertisement in support of an anti-abortion organization that believes life begins at fertilization and that the IVF process amounts to abortion and should be criminalized.
The group — then called the St. Joseph County Right to Life but now named Right to Life Michiana — took out a two-page advertisement in the South Bend Tribune, a local paper for the Michiana region of Indiana. The ad reads, “We, the following citizens of Michiana, oppose abortion on demand and defend the right to life from fertilization to natural death. Please continue to pray to end abortion.”
Barrett signed this letter along with her husband Jesse, and hundreds of other supporters of the group, the Guardian reported. While the advertisement itself did not explicitly address IVF, the group is openly opposed to the procedure.
“We support the criminalization of the doctors who perform abortions. At this point we are not supportive of criminalizing the women,” Jackie Appleman, the group’s executive director, said in an interview with the Guardian. “We would be supportive of criminalizing the discarding of frozen embryos or selective reduction through the IVF process.”
Barrett has repeatedly indicated that she does not support abortion, both in the personal views she expressed while a law professor at Notre Dame, and in her rulings on the issue. When asked if Barrett signing on to the ad was reflective of her views and if she believes IVF should be criminalized, White House spokesperson Judd Deere provided BuzzFeed News with a quote from Barrett herself, from the day of her nomination:
“A judge must apply the law as written. Judges are not policymakers, and they must be resolute in setting aside any policy views they might hold,” Barrett said.
In 2018, Duckworth made history by becoming the first senator to give birth while in office, and she spurred on a change in Senate rules to allow senators to bring their children onto the Senate floor for a vote, which she, adorably, did. She has two daughters and has been very open about her conception through IVF.
“While my two beautiful little girls are unique, my story of struggling with fertility is not,” Duckworth wrote to colleagues Friday. “Assisted reproductive technology (ART), including IVF treatment, has enabled thousands of Americans to safely start families in red and blue states alike.”
“I fear that, if confirmed to the nation’s highest court, Judge Barrett would be unable to resist the temptation of overturning decades of judicial precedent in an effort to force every American family to adhere to her individual moral code,” Duckworth continued. “I fear that if a case involving ART were to be brought before the bench, families like mine would not be able to trust that her opinions would be based on facts, laws, and the Constitution rather than swayed by her personal beliefs.”
The opposition to, and especially the criminalization of, IVF is a controversial opinion, even by anti-abortion standards. When Alabama passed a near-total ban on abortion in 2019 (which has since been blocked in court), the legislators inserted an exception for IVF. Barrett’s views on abortion have quickly become a flashpoint for Democrats since her nomination was announced.
The second page of the ad Barrett signed explicitly addressed Roe, though the signatures were only on the first page. “It’s time to put an end to the barbaric legacy of Roe v. Wade and restore laws that protect the lives of unborn children,” the ad read.
Deere pointed BuzzFeed News toward several other quotes and rulings from Barrett in which she reiterated that a judge should rely on the law, not their personal beliefs, including one from a 1998 law review article about whether Catholic judges like herself should recuse themselves from cases involving the death penalty, which the Catholic church is opposed to.
In that article, Barrett wrote, “It is never appropriate for a judge to impose that judge’s personal convictions, whether they derive from faith or anywhere else, on the law,” Deere pointed out.
However, in the article’s conclusion, she also wrote, “Judges cannot — nor should they try to — align our legal system with the Church's moral teaching whenever the two diverge. They should, however, conform their own behavior to the Church's standard. Perhaps their good example will have some effect."


buzzfeed--2020-10-04--A Steelworker Who Sat In The Debate Hall Says About Trump’s Positive Coronavirus Test: “It’s Frustra

A Steelworker Who Sat In The Debate Hall Says About Trump’s Positive Coronavirus Test: “It’s Frustrating”

CLEVELAND — A Cleveland steelworker who attended Tuesday ’ s debate as a guest of Joe Biden ’ s was still trying to process the news Friday .
President Donald Trump , first lady Melania Trump , and top Trump aide Hope Hicks — all of whom had been in the room with him that night on the Cleveland Clinic ’ s main campus — had in the last 24 hours tested positive for COVID-19 .
“ I just literally heard about it when I looked at my newsfeed on my phone about an hour ago , ” James Evanoff @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the United Steelworkers Local 979 , told BuzzFeed News in a telephone interview Friday morning .
Though masks were mandatory on site to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus , there were members of Trump ’ s family and traveling party who did not wear them in the debate hall .
“ It ’ s frustrating , ” Evanoff said .
“ It ’ s probably why we ’ re in the mess we ’ re in , because there are a select few who don ’ t want to wear masks.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ was a condition of entry ; Evanoff , an employee of ArcelorMittal in Cleveland , said he was tested before entering Tuesday .
He was at work Friday morning , about to take his break , when reached by phone .
The 38-year-old said he has no preexisting conditions that would make him vulnerable to the coronavirus but is often around people who do .
He added that he ’ s careful about wearing masks wherever he goes , and called out Trump , who rarely wears a mask in public and who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to social distancing guidelines .
“ It ’ s no different than the fool who will say , ‘ I don ’ t have to wear it at the grocery store , ’ ” Evanoff said .
“ You run into those who put the mask on just to walk past the attendant at the store , and once they ’ re past them , they pull them down .
It ’ s upsetting that the president doesn ’ t lead by example.
” Evanoff was one of two Northeast Ohio guests whom @ @ @ @ @ @ @ invited to the debate , along with Gurneé Green , the owner of a Cleveland-area fashion store .
“ Gurneé and James represent so many of us — Ohioans who get up and work hard each day to support their families and pursue their dreams , ” Toni Webb , the director of Biden ’ s Ohio campaign , said in a predebate statement to Cleveland.com .
“ But Donald Trump turned his back on people like Gurneé and James .
And now they , like so many Americans , are feeling uncertain @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Trump ’ s failed leadership and broken promises.
” The positive tests in the wake of Tuesday ’ s debate throw into confusion how major campaign events will take place — including debates — over the next several weeks .
Officials with the Cleveland Clinic — which is handling coronavirus protocols for the Commission on Presidential Debates and hosted Tuesday ’ s event — have not responded to requests for comment about what specific safety measures , including ventilation , were in place to guard against the spread of the coronavirus .

CLEVELAND — A Cleveland steelworker who attended Tuesday’s debate as a guest of Joe Biden’s was still trying to process the news Friday. President Donald Trump, first lady Melania Trump, and top Trump aide Hope Hicks — all of whom had been in the room with him that night on the Cleveland Clinic’s main campus — had in the last 24 hours tested positive for COVID-19.
“I just literally heard about it when I looked at my newsfeed on my phone about an hour ago,” James Evanoff Jr., the rapid response director for the United Steelworkers Local 979, told BuzzFeed News in a telephone interview Friday morning.
Though masks were mandatory on site to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus, there were members of Trump’s family and traveling party who did not wear them in the debate hall.
“It’s frustrating,” Evanoff said. “It’s probably why we’re in the mess we’re in, because there are a select few who don’t want to wear masks.”
Testing negative for the virus also was a condition of entry; Evanoff, an employee of ArcelorMittal in Cleveland, said he was tested before entering Tuesday. He was at work Friday morning, about to take his break, when reached by phone. The 38-year-old said he has no preexisting conditions that would make him vulnerable to the coronavirus but is often around people who do. He added that he’s careful about wearing masks wherever he goes, and called out Trump, who rarely wears a mask in public and who holds rallies that don’t adhere to social distancing guidelines.
“It’s no different than the fool who will say, ‘I don’t have to wear it at the grocery store,’” Evanoff said. “You run into those who put the mask on just to walk past the attendant at the store, and once they’re past them, they pull them down. It’s upsetting that the president doesn’t lead by example.”
Evanoff was one of two Northeast Ohio guests whom Biden, the Democratic presidential nominee, invited to the debate, along with Gurneé Green, the owner of a Cleveland-area fashion store.
“Gurneé and James represent so many of us — Ohioans who get up and work hard each day to support their families and pursue their dreams,” Toni Webb, the director of Biden’s Ohio campaign, said in a predebate statement to Cleveland.com. “But Donald Trump turned his back on people like Gurneé and James. And now they, like so many Americans, are feeling uncertain about the future after four years of Trump’s failed leadership and broken promises.”
The positive tests in the wake of Tuesday’s debate throw into confusion how major campaign events will take place — including debates — over the next several weeks. Officials with the Cleveland Clinic — which is handling coronavirus protocols for the Commission on Presidential Debates and hosted Tuesday’s event — have not responded to requests for comment about what specific safety measures, including ventilation, were in place to guard against the spread of the coronavirus.


buzzfeed--2020-10-04--This Woman's Viral Story Of How COVID Devastated Her Family Is A Must-Read For Anyone Who Doesn't Ta

This Woman's Viral Story Of How COVID Devastated Her Family Is A Must-Read For Anyone Who Doesn't Take The Pandemic Seriously

A young woman 's comment posted on Reddit , in which she describes the horrific toll COVID-19 has taken on @ @ @ @ @ viral across the internet .
And while her story is heartbreaking , it 's a @ @ @ @ @ n't understand just how serious the coronavirus pandemic really is .

A young woman's comment posted on Reddit , in which she describes the horrific toll COVID-19 has taken on her family, is going viral across the internet. And while her story is heartbreaking, it's a must-read for anyone who doesn't understand just how serious the coronavirus pandemic really is.