US President Donald Trump on Sunday October 4, 2020 at Bethesda Hospital, near Washington, where he is being treated after contracting Covid-19.
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Tia Dufour / AP / SIPA
Tested positive for Covid-19 on October 1, US President Donald Trump is hospitalized at Walter Reed Military Hospital in Bethesda, near Washington.
There, he receives a tailor-made treatment developed by his doctors, and has been placed on oxygen twice.
Donald Trump has been placed on remdesivir, an antiviral, and is also taking an experimental cocktail of synthetic antibodies.
For four days, he has been the most followed patient in the world.
On the evening of October 1, the White House announced that the President of the United States Donald Trump had tested positive for Covid-19, as well as his wife Melania.
An announcement made by the president's spokesperson, Kayleigh McEnany, tested positive in turn on Monday.
After three nights spent at Walter Reed's military hospital in Bethesda, near Washington, the
Commander in Chief
ensures he already feels much better, and even gave himself a car ride this Sunday to greet his supporters.
Monitored by a battalion of doctors, Donald Trump received tailor-made treatment, including experimental molecules.
But what exactly is he taking?
Classic symptoms and putting on oxygen
"High fever", fatigue, cough, and nasal congestion at first, but no shortness of breath: according to the president's doctor, Dr. Sean Conley, Donald Trump has experienced the classic symptoms of the coronavirus, and his last episode of fever dates back to Friday.
But Donald Trump scared doctors twice when his oxygen saturation dropped to levels signaling that his lungs could possibly be affected: Friday below 94%, and Saturday at 93%, that is to say is below the standard rate of 95%.
The president therefore received an oxygen supply on Friday at the White House, and perhaps on Saturday, his doctor having remained evasive on the second episode.
This is not an intubation on a life support device.
Since Friday's alert, the president has spoken in video messages with no obvious signs of fatigue, shortness of breath or cough, and he drove out on Sunday evening briefly to greet his supporters.
Multiple people spoke to him on the phone over the weekend.
"His health continues to improve", assured this Monday morning his chief of staff, Mark Meadows, referring to "incredible progress".
Remdesivir and experimental antibody cocktail
As soon as he was hospitalized, Donald Trump received several treatments usually given to serious cases of Covid-19, although his condition is described as improving.
He was first given - intravenously at the White House on Friday - a high dose (8 grams) of the experimental treatment developed by the biotech company Regeneron, according to his doctor.
It is a cocktail of two types of synthetic antibodies, called monoclonal antibodies, which are made in the laboratory and which aim to neutralize the coronavirus.
Preliminary results from clinical trials have been promising, but the cocktail remains restricted to administration in clinical trials, with rare exceptions on a case-by-case basis.
An exception from which Donald Trump has therefore just benefited.
The president was also prescribed a five-day treatment of the antiviral remdesivir, the first to receive emergency marketing authorization against Covid-19.
The drug, injected intravenously once a day, is aimed at preventing the virus from replicating, and is currently recommended for patients who need oxygen.
Corticosteroids for severe cases
Donald Trump has also been treated since Saturday with dexamethasone, a corticosteroid intended for severely hospitalized patients with Covid-19, in whom it has been proven to reduce mortality: this drug from the steroid family fights general inflammation which can cause serious complications in the lungs and vital organs.
A therapeutic choice that troubles the experts, who wonder if Donald Trump is actually sicker than what his doctors say, or if an excess of precautions is at work because of the importance of the patient, despite the risks of drug interactions and side effects.
The three treatments are intended for different phases of the infection, creating confusion over the president's current condition.
To complete the therapeutic management of the president, other drugs and supplements are given to Donald Trump: zinc, vitamin D, famotidine (which can be used against acid reflux), melatonin (usually prescribed against insomnia), as well as daily aspirin, according to a note from Dr. Sean Conley dated October 2.
No chloroquine
A time convinced by hydrochloroquine, the treatment defended by Professor Didier Raoult, Donald Trump even took it as a preventive measure in May.
Before changing his mind and stopping taking it.
Today, hydroxychloroquine is not part of the treatment developed by its doctors.
Doctors who could also authorize Donald Trump to leave the hospital as of Monday.
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