MEMPHIS, Tenn. — President Donald Trump announced he is returning to the White House on Monday evening, on the same day his press secretary announces she too has tested positive for COVID-19.
The positive tests come just days after an event for a Supreme Court nominee was held at the White House. Several coronavirus cases have been traced back to that Rose Garden event.
Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn attended, and so far she said she has tested negative. Additionally, Alice Marie Johnson, from Memphis, who Trump pardoned, she flew on Air Force One the night of the debate last week, and in a recent tweet she too said she has negative COVID results.
Over the weekend the president rode in a motorcade outside of the hospital to wave to supporters. On Monday, Dr. Steve Threlkeld, an infectious disease specialist with Baptist Memorial Hospital, gave his insight as to what he would do if he had a patient that tested positive for the coronavirus.
“I wouldn’t let them is the short answer to be perfectly honest,” Threlkeld said. “You can’t possibly allow that on any systematic basis because some people are just too sick to accomplish that, and they may feel OK until they go out for a ride somewhere, and they might be sicker than they realized.”
Threlkeld added, “Their oxygen might drop and in general for the average patient we don’t allow people to leave the hospital who are in-patients, patients in a hospital bed, until they are in fact discharged.”
Threlkeld acknowledged he does not have a patient who is also the president of the United States, at the same time, he gave his insight as to how he would handle the situation.
Dr. Threlkeld says he would also advise not riding in close quarters with someone who has tested positive for COVID. But he acknowledged high-level elected officials have things at their disposal the average person does not.
