BOSTON (WHDH) - Doctors are questioning President Trump’s return to the White House three days after going to Walter Reed Medical Center, and said they were upset at his attitude toward the virus as he took a car ride with Secret Service agents and tweeted that people “should not be afraid” of the coronavirus.
Trump announced via Tweet on Monday afternoon that he intended to check out of Walter Reed at 6:30 p.m., just days after being admitted Friday afternoon. Dr. David Hooper, who leads the infection control unit at Mass General, said that’s not what he would have expected.
“I’m a little surprised, given he had some oxygen requirements and they pulled the triggers on these other therapies that are — particularly the dexamethasone — you usually associate with severe disease,” Hooper said. “It does seem a little surprising that this soon he’s leaving the hospital.”
And Hooper said he was not pleased to hear about Trump’s tweet telling people not to be afraid of Covid-19 and to not let it dominate their lives.
“I think that is unfortunate … Messaging is really a problem if it’s meant to say don’t worry about it, Covid is not a big problem. The numbers speak for themselves,” Hooper said.
“It is a disease that you can reduce your likelihood of getting. If you’re young and healthy It may not make a big difference in your health, but it can sure make a difference in the heath of the 200,000 people plus who have died in this country,” Hooper said. “If they had not gotten it they would be with us today, in most cases.”
And Dr. James Philips, a non-military attending physician at Walter Reed itself, said Trump’s ride around the hospital was reckless and unnecessarily put hospital staff and Secret Service agents at risk.
“The idea that this would be cleared without any medical indication is absurd,” Philips said. “Masks or no masks, being inside a vehicle that’s hermetically sealed circulates virus inside and potentially puts people at risk.”
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