Trump Briefly Received Supplemental Oxygen on Friday: Doctor

Trump Briefly Received Supplemental Oxygen on Friday: Doctor
Dr. Sean Conley, physician to President Donald Trump, briefs reporters at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., Oct. 4, 2020. (Jacquelyn Martin/AP Photo)
Zachary Stieber
10/4/2020
Updated:
10/5/2020

President Donald Trump did briefly receive supplemental oxygen, based on a recommendation by his doctor while battling COVID-19, the doctor revealed Sunday.

“Thursday night into Friday morning ... the president was doing well with only mild symptoms and his oxygen was in the high nineties. Late Friday morning, when I returned to the bedside, president had a high fever and his oxygen saturation was transiently dipping below 94 percent,” Dr. Sean Conley told reporters outside Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Maryland, about 15 miles from the White House.

“Given these two developments, I was concerned for possible rapid progression of the illness. I recommended [to] the president we try some supplemental oxygen, see how he’d respond. He was fairly adamant that he didn’t need it. He was not short of breath. He was tired, had the fever, and that was about it,” Conley added.

“After about a minute and only two liters, his saturation levels were back over 95 percent. Stayed on that for about an hour, maybe, and it was off and gone.”

Conley had said during an Oct. 3 briefing that Trump did not receive oxygen on Thursday, Friday, or Saturday, before adding the caveat that the president had not received oxygen after arriving at Walter Reed on Friday.
President Donald Trump salutes as he boards Marine One outside the White House o go to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center after he tested positive for COVID-19, in Washington on Oct. 2, 2020. (Alex Brandon/AP Photo)
President Donald Trump salutes as he boards Marine One outside the White House o go to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center after he tested positive for COVID-19, in Washington on Oct. 2, 2020. (Alex Brandon/AP Photo)
President Donald Trump works in the Presidential Suite at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., Oct. 3, 2020. (Joyce N. Boghosian/The White House via AP)
President Donald Trump works in the Presidential Suite at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., Oct. 3, 2020. (Joyce N. Boghosian/The White House via AP)

Trump’s blood oxygen level dropped down to 93 percent on Saturday but was up at 98 percent on Sunday, Conley told reporters in the latest briefing.

Asked whether Trump received a second round of supplemental oxygen on Saturday, Conley said, “I'd have to check with the nursing staff.”

“If he did, it was very, very limited. But he’s not on oxygen. The only oxygen that I ordered that we provided was that Friday morning, initially,” he said.

According to the Lung Health Institute, a normal range of oxygen saturation for adults is 94 to 99 percent. Patients who experience a dip below 90 percent will likely require supplemental oxygen.

Conley acknowledged he was reluctant to disclose that Trump had been administered oxygen but said he wasn’t necessarily trying to hide the information.

White House physician Sean Conley, second from right, with medical staff, arrives to give an update on the condition of President Donald Trump at Walter Reed Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., on Oct. 3, 2020. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)
White House physician Sean Conley, second from right, with medical staff, arrives to give an update on the condition of President Donald Trump at Walter Reed Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., on Oct. 3, 2020. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)
A supporter of Joe Biden and Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) holds a sign amid a crowd of President Donald Trump supporters, outside of Walter Reed Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., Oct. 4, 2020. (Alex Edelman/AFP via Getty Images)
A supporter of Joe Biden and Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) holds a sign amid a crowd of President Donald Trump supporters, outside of Walter Reed Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., Oct. 4, 2020. (Alex Edelman/AFP via Getty Images)

“I was trying to reflect the upbeat attitude that the team, the president, that his course of illness has had. I didn’t want to give any information that might steer the course of illness in another direction and in doing so, it came off that we were trying to hide something, which wasn’t necessarily true,” the White House physician said.

“The fact of the matter is that he’s doing really well. He is responding. And as the team said, if everything continues to go well, we’re going to start discharge planning back to the White House.”

Trump, 74, tested positive for COVID-19 on Oct. 1.

COVID-19 is the disease caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus.
The president has received a number of treatments, including several doses of the antiviral remdesivir, an injection of an immune-boosting polyclonal antibody cocktail, and dexamethasone, a steroid that can improve the survival rate of COVID-19 patients.
Zachary Stieber is a senior reporter for The Epoch Times based in Maryland. He covers U.S. and world news. Contact Zachary at [email protected]
twitter
truth
Related Topics