President Trump tests positive for coronavirus: One doctor's advice to the commander-in-chief

Brian Sozzi
·Executive Editor
3 min read
0

President Trump and first lady Melania Trump have tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

Despite there not being one home-run treatment for COVID-19 yet, there are steps the first couple could take to tackle the virus. So far, Trump is reportedly experiencing mild symptoms.

“First and foremost, if I was the president’s doctor, I would tell him to rest. It’s important for elderly patients who have the virus to take care of themselves first and foremost,” explained Yahoo Finance medical contributor Dr. Dara Kass on The First Trade. “He should be isolated. There should be minimal contact with the president for anyone that has to take care of him. His wife obviously is positive as well, so she can be around him. He must acknowledge any symptoms he is having. After that period of time if he is symptom free after 10 days, without a fever for more than 24 hours, he can go back out into the regular world but with a mask on and staying distant.”

White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows told reporters Friday the president is experiencing mild symptoms but remains on the job.

But at age 74 and overweight, Trump is statistically at risk for a more severe battle with COVID-19 even with access to the best medical treatment on the planet.

Those between ages 65 and 74 are some five times likelier to be hospitalized and 90 times more likely to die from COVID-19 than those 18 to 29, per data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC notes that men make up 54% of COVID-19 deaths.

US President Donald Trump walks from Marine One after arriving on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC, October 1, 2020, following campaign events in New Jersey. - White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said on October 1, 2020, that he was optimistic about a rapid recovery for the president as he confirmed that Trump has "mild symptoms" after testing positive for Covid-19. "The president and the First Lady... remain in good spirits," Meadows told reporters. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP) (Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)

Globally, there are 34.2 million confirmed cases of COVID-19, according to the World Health Organization. The total number of deaths now stand slightly above 1 million.

Assuming the president does fend off the coronavirus, his age and weight also keep him at risk for lingering side effects.

“We hope President Trump will recover fully from the virus. Remembering that over 7 million Americans have had the virus and many of them have what we call long symptoms such as shortness of breath, maybe blood clots, kidney damage or foggy thinking,” Kass added. “There is a lot of neurological complications of this virus. We don’t know what is going to happen in the acute phase. That’s true for the first lady. This virus has an unpredictable course and a patient like President Trump who is elderly and obese and male is a high risk for acute complications and long-term complications.”

Brian Sozzi is an editor-at-large and co-anchor of The First Trade at Yahoo Finance. Follow Sozzi on Twitter @BrianSozzi and on LinkedIn.

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