White House physician Sean Conley says that President Trump was doing "very well" and that the symptoms he had are resolving and improving.

Transcript

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

We have just concluded bringing you a briefing from White House physician and Naval Commander Dr. Sean Conley from the Walter Reed Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., where the president was hospitalized after he tested positive for the coronavirus. There were, of course, reports yesterday that he had experienced mild symptoms - cough, congestion, fever and fatigue. We're joined now by two stalwarts, NPR White House correspondent Tamara Keith. Tam, thanks for being back with us.

TAMARA KEITH, BYLINE: Glad to be with you.

SIMON: And NPR science correspondent Joe Palca. Joe, thank you very much.

JOE PALCA, BYLINE: Glad to be here.

SIMON: And, Joe, let's get to the medical aspect first. President's vital signs sounded good, didn't they?

PALCA: Yes. His vital signs seem good. His oxygen saturation - that's how much oxygen is getting into his body through his lungs - was appropriate. His heart rate was fairly close to normal, 70 to 80. And the - his doctor said that he was well-pleased with the results. I mean, the problem or the question that still comes up about this is what - the things that the - we didn't hear the president was - the doctor was asked multiple times, is - has the president ever been on oxygen, supplemental oxygen? And the doctor kindly refused to say no. He said he's not on now, and he wasn't on this time. It was like there was a window when he might have been on.

And he's taking this remdesivir, which is a drug that's usually reserved for more seriously ill patients but maybe not. And he refused to say anything about the prognosis except to say that they are in a period now where they'll be monitoring very closely because this time in patients' illness can be very - potentially very dangerous because this is a time when, suddenly, a bunch of what they call a cascade of symptoms or a cascade of events take place that can make the patient's health status decline precipitously.

SIMON: Tamara Keith, you noticed that Dr. Conley, as the White House physician, had some good political skills when the question about supplemental oxygen was raised.

KEITH: Indeed. He kept emphasizing he is not on oxygen now. And I don't spend a lot of time talking to doctors, but I do spend a lot of time talking to politicians.

SIMON: (Laughter).

KEITH: And that was politician language if I've ever seen it. He was very precise. And the issue, though, was - the question was, has the president ever been on supplemental oxygen in the course of his treatment for coronavirus? And the doctor said, well, he's not on oxygen now. And then reporters kept trying and trying to, like - OK, was he on oxygen Thursday? The doctor says no. Was he on oxygen Friday? He was not on oxygen here at Walter Reed. Well, as we all know, President Trump spent the better part of the day at the White House on Friday. And the doctor - the good doctor did not weigh in, would not say whether the president had been on supplemental oxygen Friday morning or during the day. He says he's not on it now and that his oxygen levels are good.

It's - this is a situation where transparency and clarity are very important for the American public and for the world, in fact, who's watching President Trump and how he is doing. And there was a fair bit of evasiveness.

SIMON: Yeah.

KEITH: In fact, this press conference left a lot of questions. He said the president was diagnosed 72 hours ago. That would put it at Wednesday, not Thursday, when they announced that the president was positive.

SIMON: Yeah. And I guess we should note, Tam, that the president is just one member of the White House staff, if you please, who has been diagnosed as being positive for the coronavirus, isn't he?

KEITH: Yeah. In fact, a large number of people directly associated with the president have now tested positive, including most of the people involved with his debate preparations, including Kellyanne Conway. Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie just in the last hour has tweeted that he is positive for coronavirus. The president's campaign manager has tested positive for coronavirus.

SIMON: I'm sorry. I hadn't heard that. Chris Christie has tested positive, too?

KEITH: Yes, Chris Christie tweeted that he has tested positive. And I will just add that - I've just gotten a note in that a source familiar with the president's health told White House reporters, 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 on a clear path to full recovery," which is different - that is a much different tone than was just delivered on television.

SIMON: Yeah. What do you make of that, Joe?

PALCA: Well, I wish - you know, maybe if I'd gotten into medical school, I'd be better off now answering your questions. But (laughter) the other thing - I mean, it's very interesting what didn't come out. I mean, the president talked about his systolic blood pressure, didn't talk about his diastolic pressure. I don't know why not. Maybe there was no reason to. But why not? It's usually - you get two numbers when you talk about blood pressure, and the doctor only gave one. You do not send someone to a hospital if they don't need to go.

SIMON: Yeah.

PALCA: That's the case.

KEITH: So he - what they said is he's the president of the United States. And the other thing is the way the president gets to the hospital, there are always reporters watching. When he goes to Walter Reed, when he goes to Marine One, there are always cameras. And he was able to walk on his own two feet, give a thumbs up and a wave. He was in a condition to be able to do that yesterday.

PALCA: Yeah.

SIMON: And it should be noted, too, in Walter Reed, I mean, it's not like he's sharing a room with four other patients.

PALCA: No.

KEITH: They have a suite for the president.

SIMON: Yeah, yeah. Yes, Joe. I'm sorry.

PALCA: No, I was just going to say, I mean, even so, the president's clinic at the White House is no doubt capable of maintaining a patient in most - anything less than a hospital-required setting. So this idea that - you know, that there's things in a hospital that are necessary - they must have had some concern that he would need the more extended types of equipment that a hospital can provide, whether he's actually in the hospital. That was the issue that came up of whether he'd been admitted or not. But clearly, today, his doctors said, yes, he's a patient at this hospital. So is it - if he hadn't been a president of the United States, would he have been admitted to the hospital? Well, we didn't get the answer to that question. Presumably, it's possible he would not have. We just don't know.

SIMON: Yeah. And, Tam, to strike a political observation here, going to Walter Reed has raised this to a whole new level of concern for the American people, too, hasn't it?

KEITH: Certainly, this raises the stakes, you know? It's not - the president's not just like the rest of us at home nursing a cold. The president is receiving the, you know, state-of-the-art therapeutics that are often given to patients that are in dire conditions. The White House doctor is saying they gave it to the president early in hopes of maybe helping, earlier than is normally called for. But you have a situation where the president of the United States is in the hospital with a disease that has affected millions of Americans and has killed 200,000. We don't know how the president will do. He could do just fine. But we're getting very mixed signals from the White House right now.

SIMON: NPR's Tamara Keith and Joe Palca joining us this morning. Thanks very much for being with us - both.

PALCA: You're welcome.

KEITH: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

Tags: Series: The Coronavirus Crisis