During a press conference on October 4, White House doctor Sean Conley, who is in charge of treating President Donald Trump, admitted that he was trying to hide information the President needed to breathe oxygen, to reflect a positive image of his health in public.
“I wanted to reflect a positive image and attitude that the medical team and the President are going through,” – Dr. Conley shared. “I don’t want to give out potentially misleading information about the President’s condition, but so it looks like we’re hiding something, even though it’s not.”
Previously, Dr. Conley has received a lot of criticism for the lack of transparency about Mr. Trump’s health condition, especially when evading a more detailed question about whether he needed oxygen.
Conley said Trump is currently on dexamethasone – a form of steroid believed to be beneficial for patients with Covid-19 in need of oxygen supplementation, and is recommended by the World Health Organization for cases ” severe and serious illness “after Mr. Trump experienced 2 times the blood oxygen level dropped to about 90%. In addition, he said that bringing Mr. Trump into the Walter Reed Military Medical Center is not necessarily prudent, but rather because White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany fears that the President’s illness “could progress quickly” into on October 2.
“At noon on October 2, Mr. Trump had a high fever and recorded a drop of 94% oxygen,” – Conley said. “With two drops of concentration, I fear that there will be worse progress.”
At that time, despite Mr. Trump’s claim that he did not need to be hospitalized, Conley still suggested he breathe oxygen at the White House, and said that the President should move to the hospital for closer monitoring.
Concerns about Trump’s medical transparency came after October 3, when the White House had to revise Conley’s words about the time when the President was diagnosed with Covid-19. The inconsistency in the given information has led to many doubts. Nonetheless, Mr. Conley mentioned that the President’s recovery progress is very good.