The world learned that US President Donald Trump tested positive for nCoV on October 2, but until now the White House has not announced exactly when Trump was infected with nCoV.
White House officials and Sean Conley, Trump’s personal doctor, repeatedly dodged questions about the US President’s last negative test.
However, many experts consider this question not simply to be repeated but also considered an important issue.
President Donald Trump at the White House on the evening of October 5.
The US President posted on Twitter that he and First Lady Melania tested positive for nCoV early on the morning of October 2, not long after close advisor Hope Hicks was informed that he had the virus.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the White House did not disclose the positive test results Trump received on October 1, waiting for the second test results.
But at the press conference on October 3, Dr. Conley said Trump had passed 72 hours of diagnosis, showing that he had Covid-19 test results from September 30, earlier than the Wall Street Journal’s information.
`When summarizing the President’s health situation this morning, I mistakenly used the phrases ’72 hours’ instead of ‘day 3′ and ’48 hours’ instead of ‘day 2’ when talking about the Covid diagnosis
Trump’s doctor also admitted on October 4 that he hid the fact that the President had to breathe oxygen when his blood oxygen levels dropped due to high fever, before being transferred to Walter Reed on the afternoon of October 2.
Dr. Leana Wen, professor of health policy and management at George Washington University’s Milken School of Public Health and former Baltimore public health commissioner, said that if what Conley said is true, the disease progression of
Dr. Wen believes that it usually takes about a week for symptoms of nCoV infection to develop to the point where the patient needs oxygen.
`How is it possible that his viral load on Wednesday was not enough to test positive, but on Friday his oxygen level decreased to the point of requiring hospitalization? If everything is true, the President’s health
Dr. Ranney agreed with Dr. Wen that the President’s disease progression was unusual, but said `nothing is impossible.`
Philip Bump, editor of the Washington Post, also raised many skeptical issues about when Trump was infected with nCoV.
The fact that Trump appeared so late at the first debate on September 29 that the medical team in Cleveland did not have time to test for nCoV before starting also raised questions among many people.
Conflicting and unclear information from President Trump’s medical team and officials, as well as the media, has made the health picture of the US leader chaotic, and has also confused many medical experts.
They believe that accurately understanding President Trump’s health condition is important for many reasons.
Second, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that patients quarantine for at least 10 days after symptoms of nCoV infection appear to avoid spreading the virus to others.
Finally, knowing the exact time of President Trump’s last negative test will provide clues for contact tracing when he was at risk of infection.
President Trump (right) at the event at the White House on September 28.
But experts say that until now the White House has not yet begun contact tracing efforts to prevent the epidemic, since a new outbreak cluster appeared around President Trump.
Joseph Eisenberg, head of epidemiology at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, said another day of missing information increases the difficulty of contact tracing, meaning more people are infected with the virus.
`This is worrying not only from a public health perspective, but also as a matter of information transparency and trust, as well as the public interest,` Eisenberg said.
Dr. Ranney added that by not accurately disclosing President Trump’s health information, the White House is undermining CDC’s disease prevention guidelines.
`If we have any hope of controlling Covid-19, opening the economy and getting children back to school, compliance with public health measures is essential. When the President himself
