President Donald Trump shared a four-minute video message on Twitter Saturday evening, in which he said he was feeling better after he was first diagnosed with COVID-19 on Thursday and taken to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
Trump began his video message by thanking the medical professionals at Walter Reed. Trump also thanked world leaders for their support since he was diagnosed on Thursday evening.
Trump said, “I feel much better now. 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.
“I’ll be back. I think I’ll be back soon,” he added.
Trump provided the update after White House Physician Dr. Sean Conley spoke at a press briefing on Saturday morning, in which he said Trump was doing “very well” and said Trump has not had trouble breathing or needed supplemental oxygen.
In his video Saturday evening, Trump said, “We’re going to beat this coronavirus and we’re going to beat it soundly.”
Trump, who has received an antibody cocktail and Remdesivir, expressed optimism over some of the therapeutics being used to treat COVID-19.
“If you look at the therapeutics, which I’m taking right now some of them and others are coming out soon that are looking like, frankly they’re miracles,” he said.
Dr. Conley, on Saturday morning, said the medical team treating Trump is monitoring his health closely in anticipation of days seven through 10 of the infection, when patients often develop lung inflammation. During his video address on Saturday night, Trump said “I’m starting to feel good — you don’t know, over the next period of a few days, I guess that’s the real test, so we’ll be seeing what happens over those next couple of days.”
Trump said he felt compelled to seek hospitalization at Walter Reed Medical Center, “Because I just didn’t want to stay in the White House.”
“I was given that alternative, stay in the White House, lock yourself in, don’t ever leave, don’t even go to the Oval Office. Just stay upstairs and enjoy it. Don’t see people, don’t talk to people and just be done with it,” Trump said. “And I can’t do that. I had to be out front and this is America, this is the United States, this is the greatest country in the world, this is the most powerful country in the world. I can’t be locked up in a room upstairs and totally safe and say ‘hey, whatever happens, happens,’ I can’t do that.”
President Trump also said First Lady Melania Trump, who also tested positive for COVID-19, “Is really handling it very nicely.”
On Friday, the First Lady tweeted, “Thank you for the love you are sending our way. I have mild symptoms but overall feeling good. I am looking forward to a speedy recovery.”
Thank you for the love you are sending our way. I have mild symptoms but overall feeling good. I am looking forward to a speedy recovery.
— Melania Trump (@FLOTUS) October 2, 2020