President Trump continued to improve overnight and is eager to get back to a “normal working schedule” as he fights a coronavirus infection, a top White House official said Monday.
“We are still optimistic that he will be able to return to the White House later today, with his medical professionals making that determination later today,” Chief of Staff Mark Meadows told Fox News.
Mr. Meadows said Mr. Trump will meet with his doctors and nurses Monday morning “to make further assessments of his progress.”
Mr. Trump has been a patient at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center since late Friday. The president and first lady Melania Trump tested positive for COVID-19 late Thursday.
The president’s oxygen levels dropped on Friday and Saturday and he’s received three different drug therapies.
Hoping to show resilience, Mr. Trump made a brief drive-by appearance to wave to his supporters outside of Walter Reed late Sunday afternoon.
Former 2016 Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski told NBC’s “Today” show that he believes the Secret Service agents in the car with him volunteered for the assignment, which raised eyebrows since the president is carrying a highly contagious disease.
Dr. James Phillips, an attending physician at Walter Reed, scolded the president.
“Beyond the risk that was imparted on those Secret Service agents, volunteering or not, it’s the message that is sent to other people who are sick, that it’s OK to go out,” he told “Today.” “This is the wrong message to be sending.”
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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