Trump no longer a transmission risk for Covid-19, says White House doctor

Trump no longer a transmission risk for Covid-19, says White House doctor

White House physician Sean Conley says US president’s viral load is decreasing.

Dr Sean Conley, physician to President Donald Trump, talks to reporters at Walter Reed Medical Center on Oct 5. (AP pic)
WASHINGTON:
President Donald Trump is no longer contagious, nine days after being stopped in his tracks by Covid-19, his physician said in a statement released late Saturday.

“I am happy to report that in addition to the President meeting CDC criteria for the safe discontinuation of isolation, this morning’s Covid PCR sample demonstrates, by currently recognised standards, he is no longer considered a transmission risk to others,” the president’s physician Sean Conley said in the statement.

Conley, who has been accused of a lack of transparency with the public, said it had been 10 days since Trump first began showing symptoms of the new coronavirus.

The president was hospitalised one day later, on Oct 2.

Tests showed there was “no longer evidence of actively replicating virus”, and that Trump’s viral load was “decreasing”, Conley continued – though he did not state that the president is now Covid-free.

Trump is fever-free and his symptoms have “improved”, Conley said, adding that he would continue to monitor the president as he “returns to an active schedule”.

Trump, who stayed in the hospital for three days before returning to the White House, has been pushing to jump back on the campaign trail.

He trails his Democratic challenger, Joe Biden, badly in the polls with less than a month before the election on Nov 3.

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