President Trump could be discharged from the hospital as soon as Monday, doctors at Walter Reed Medical Center told reporters.
However, Dr. Sean Conley, Trump’s personal physician, said that the president had received supplemental oxygen on Friday. The president’s blood oxygen levels dropped again on Saturday, and physicians were able to administer the steroid dexamethasone without giving Trump supplemental oxygen a second time.
“If [the president] continues to look and feel as well as he does today, our hope is that we can plan for a discharge as early as tomorrow to the White House where he can continue his treatment course,” said Dr. Brian Garibaldi, a member of the team treating the president.
Trump announced early on Friday morning that he had contracted COVID-19, and was flown by helicopter to Walter Reed Medical Center the same day. White House chief-of-staff Mark Meadows later confirmed to Fox News that administration personnel “were real concerned” after the president’s condition deteriorated on Friday.
However, in a video filmed from Walter Reed on Saturday, Trump said he was planning on returning to the White House as soon as possible.
The president’s diagnosis came as multiple senior Republican officials announced they had contracted coronavirus. Many of those officials sat together in close proximity at the announcement of Trump’s nominee to the Supreme Court, Amy Coney Barrett, including First Lady Melania Trump, Senators Mike Lee (R., Utah) and Thom Tillis (R, N.C.), former adviser Kellyanne Conway, and former New Jersey governor Chris Christie.
Additionally, Senator Ron Johnson (R., Wis.) and Republican National Committee chairwoman Ronna McDaniel have announced diagnoses.