The NPR Politics Podcast - After Doctor Said Trump Doing Well, Source Familiar With His Health Said Otherwise

Episode Date: October 3, 2020

FOLLOW OUR COVERAGE: https://n.pr/3nj0elUMuddled messaging from the White House has sent confusing signals about the president's well-being. We talk about what we know about his condition and treatment.This episode: political reporter Danielle Kurtzleben, White House reporter Franco Ordoñez, science correspondent Joe Palca.Connect:Subscribe to the NPR Politics Podcast here.Email the show at [e-mail] the NPR Politics Podcast Facebook Group.Listen to our playlist The NPR Politics Daily Workout.Subscribe to the NPR Politics Newsletter.Find and support your local public radio station.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Hey there, it is the NPR Politics Podcast. I'm Danielle Kurtzleben. I cover politics. I'm Frank Ordonez. I cover the White House. And I'm Joe Palka. I'm from the Science Desk. And it is 1.35 p.m. on Saturday, October 3rd. We are coming at you with a special update on the president's condition. He has been admitted to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center as a patient, and we got an update from his doctor today. Let's listen. At this time, the team and I are extremely happy with the progress the president has made.

Thursday, he had a mild cough and some nasal congestion and fatigue, all of which are now resolving and improving. Okay, so Franco, that was the president's physician, Sean Conley, this morning briefing the press outside of Walter Reed about the president's condition. We also, though, heard from a White House official who said, quote, the president's vitals over the last 24 hours were very concerning, and the next 48 hours will be critical in terms of his care. We're still not on a clear path to a full recovery. So I feel a little whipsawed here, Franco, and our listeners might too. It feels like we're getting some mixed messages. So what do we know? Yeah, I mean, we really are getting a lot of mixed messages from Dr. Connolly

and his team. They're talking about the president doing very well, that he's up, that he's talking about feeling like he can get out of there, saying that the mild conditions that he had, fever, cough, has kind of all improved. On the other hand, immediately after the briefing, we heard from another source who is familiar with the president's health, that the president is not on a clear path to full recovery. So we're hearing very different things about the president's condition. This White House has often had big challenges delivering clear messages about, you know, issues of import. And this is another one. And it just creates a lot of uncertainty and, you know, a lot of fear about, you know,

what is really going on and what is happening. And Franco, that confusion got worse later in the day. The doctor said this about the president's condition. Just 72 hours into the diagnosis now, the first week of COVID and in particular day seven to 10 are the most critical in determining the likely course of this illness. Now, 72 hours ago, that would have been Wednesday morning that the president got a positive test, which is earlier than we knew. But this afternoon, he walked that back saying he meant today is, quote, day three of the diagnosis that came on Thursday. So, Joe, what do we know thus far about the president's treatment? Well, on Friday, the White House said that the president

had received a experimental drug made by the company called Regeneron. It's a drug that's called a monoclonal antibody cocktail. Monoclonal antibodies are synthetic versions of the antibodies that we produce in our bodies when we fight off disease. tended to be helpful in, and they're specifically designed for being infected with the SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. So they're supposed to help. This medication hasn't been approved by the FDA or authorized by the FDA, but the company said that the president got it under what's called compassionate use. So they made a call and got this drug. The other thing that they decided later in the day was after evaluating his condition a little further, they decided to give him remdesivir. Remdesivir is not an experimental drug. There

has been some evidence to show that it's effective, and the FDA has issued an emergency use authorization so it can be used more or less broadly during this health emergency. But it's a drug that's given intravenously over a five-day course, usually to patients who are hospitalized. And it's also an antiviral drug that's supposed to help prevent the virus from spreading inside somebody's body so that their immune system can do a better job or have an easier job of fighting it off. We've talked a little bit here about how this messaging has been mixed or at the very least confusing.

That doctor was evasive in talking about whether or not the president had received oxygen therapy and when. You know, as a person who covers this quite a bit, what can you tell us that you can glean from this about his condition? Well, you know, Franco's right. There does seem to be some disconnects. I mean, if you think about it carefully, what the doctor said isn't totally at odds with what this background source said. The doctor said that this is a critical period in the course of this illness, seven to 10 days after symptoms first appear is when patients either start to get better and, you know, the disease resolves or they crash and get much worse. So he's not to the critical moment yet. But there were some very

strange things. And again, a question of did the president require supplemental oxygen? Well, he doesn't have oxygen now. Yes. But did he need it at any time? I'm going to try to pin you down one more time. I know you said there was no oxygen. Yeah, he's not on oxygen today. Did he receive any on Thursday? And he's, what's today, Saturday? No, no, Thursday. No Thursday, no Friday, no Saturday. That's fine.

Thursday, no oxygen, none at this moment. Yeah. And yesterday with the team, while we were all here, he was not on oxygen. There was a lot of lack of clarity, which could have been just said, yes, he did, and would have been over with. But by not just spilling it out, it made you think, what's going on here? You know, what we're seeing here is that how people respond to this virus is very unpredictable. You know, this impacts people in different ways. Some people are impacted and it hits them very hard.

Others, it hits them so differently. The doctors are obviously trying to put forth a positive message, but there is another message being delivered. And the fact of those mixed message, I just think it raises so many questions. And I think it raises a bit of a little bit of level of distrust that is concerning. So, Joe, final question. Knowing what day that the president is on is super important here. You mentioned that 7 to 10 day range being the range that's most critical. We know that a person's symptoms can change rapidly from one day to another. So tell us, you know, if he's doing well now, it sounds like that doesn't mean he's out of the woods, right?

No, I think that's fair to say. And again, the people who tend to have the worst outcome in this illness are people, first of all, who are over 65 or older, and second of all, have some other underlying health conditions. Well, the doctor said that he doesn't have high cholesterol and he doesn't have high blood pressure, but he is overweight. And that's one of the risk factors that tends to be associated with a poorer outcome. So, yes, everything could be fine in a few days, or no, it might not be. And right now, you know, for an individual, you couldn't say. As a population matter, he's not in the world's best population group to have a positive outcome. Right. Okay, well, we've got a lot more to get through in terms of people around the president who have been infected. But first, let's take a quick break. Radio Ambulante is NPR's only Spanish language podcast. Listen for stories you won't hear anywhere else told by the voices that make Latin America come alive. Each week, we bring you another remarkable story that will surprise and move you. Radio Ambulante, new episodes every Tuesday. Listen and subscribe. And we're back. And I now want to talk about the ballooning number of cases among high profile Republicans who surround the president or have been around him, at least.

People like former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, also former presidential adviser Kellyanne Conway, but also, importantly, Republican senators. Now Mitch McConnell is saying he's delaying the Senate's return. So, Frankel, let's start with you. What are the implications of this or what do we know about the implications regarding Amy Coney Barrett's nomination to the Supreme Court? It's a big deal. There are a lot of questions about how this could impact her confirmation. You know, two Republican senators who are on the Judiciary Committee, Senators Tom Tillis of North Carolina and Mike Lee of Utah, they have tested positive. They are at the ceremony where President Trump nominated Barrett for the Supreme Court. Now, Senator Lindsey Graham, who heads the Judiciary Committee, he says things will move forward, that these kind of hearings can happen over Zoom, over Skype, but he will need them back.

He said by about October 15th when the committee is supposed to start debating the nomination. So there are a lot of questions about what their health will be. Will they be healthy enough to come back? And their sickness could, you know, kind of slow things down. Right. There was already a tight time frame and this just makes it tighter, it sounds like. So let's also look ahead to debates, though, because we have this debate this week between Vice President Mike Pence and Joe Biden's running mate Kamala Harris, California Democratic senator. We should say they both have tested negative. In fact, this morning, Vice President Pence tested negative for a second time. But,

Joe, let's start with you. You know, if Mike Pence has been around the president, do we know, is there a sort of safe window of time beyond which we can say, yes, he is not infected? Well, obviously, he's not going to be infected by the president now, as the president's in the hospital. Right. in the hospital. But there is a period of time between Wednesday when his symptoms started to appear and even before that, where he could conceivably have been, what they say, shedding virus, putting off viral particles just from his normal speech or if he happened to sneeze or cough or something like that. So it's possible the vice president was exposed to the president's illness. And if the president infected other people in the White House that didn't have

symptoms yet, but were infected or haven't been tested yet, they could have done it. So it raises this whole set of questions. And it's just going to be, well, I don't know, four, five, six, seven, eight days before people can say with certainty that they're in the clear. Well, and furthermore, now that we know roughly when the president started feeling sick, I mean, do we have any sense of when he might no longer be contagious? I mean, can he do any more in-person events before the election? Oh, yes, I think he can for sure. If his symptoms resolve and that could happen happen usually they say there's a certain time period after the last fever day of fever and two negative tests in a row will

be enough to prove that he's not infectious to anyone the question is you know when does this when does this illness end and how he's still going to be feeling? Because a lot of people who have this virus, even not even a case that requires hospitalization, say that they feel wiped out for quite a bit of time afterwards. OK, well, we're going to leave it there for now. The only thing that is clear right now is really that nothing is really clear. But we will be back daily or more as we learn more. Joe, thank you so much for coming on. You're welcome.

I'm Danielle Kurtzleben. I cover politics. I'm Frank Ordonez. I cover the White House. And thank you for listening to the NPR Politics Podcast.