Trump Offers Vague Answers on Health in Fox Appearance

President says he's off COVID meds, adds he doesn't have latest result of virus test taken Thursday
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 10, 2020 6:00 AM CDT
Trump's On-Air 'Health Analysis': I'm Off the Meds
In this Monday file photo, President Trump holds his mask after removing it from his face upon returning to the White House in Washington from the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md.   (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

President Trump showed up on Fox News Friday night, with news about his condition as he recuperates from COVID-19, though Politico notes much of his update was "vague." In a prerecorded "health analysis" and interview conducted by Fox News contributor Dr. Marc Siegel and aired on Tucker Carlson's prime-time show, Trump said he was "medication free" as of Friday morning, per Deadline, and that he wasn't feeling any side effects from the steroid dexamethasone that had been part of his drug regimen. Trump also said he'd last been tested for the virus on Thursday but hadn't yet received the results, per Axios, which notes White House officials have evaded the question all week on when the president last tested negative.

Trump did say that during a retest at some point after his diagnosis it was found "I'm either the bottom of the scale or free," apparently referring to his viral load, Politico notes. The president said doctors' scans had found "some congestion" in his lungs that "tested good," and that although he'd felt fatigued while at Walter Reed hospital, he hadn't had trouble breathing. "I didn't feel strong, I didn't have a problem with breathing, which a lot of people seem to have. I had none of that," he noted. "But I didn't feel very strong, I didn't feel very vital, I didn't feel like the president of the US should feel." When asked by Siegel how he thought he may have gotten infected, Trump answered, "I don't know. They had some big events at the White House and perhaps there," but "nobody really knows for sure. ... It's highly contagious. That's one thing you learn. This is a contagious disease." (More President Trump stories.)

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