Trump received remdesivir after coronavirus symptoms reportedly worsened throughout the day

(Image credit: Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

published 3 October 2020

A few hours after boarding Marine One for a flight to Walter Reed Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland, on Friday night, President Trump tweeted that he thinks things are "going well" as he received a new treatment for COVID-19.

While the White House remained fairly tight-lipped about the details of Trump's case, saying only that he had "mild symptoms," The New York Times reports those symptoms — including coughing, congestion, and a low-grade fever — worsened throughout the day. It's unclear if the worsening symptoms directly led to a change in the president's treatment, but he did begin receiving the antiviral drug remdesivir Friday evening, his physician Sean Conley said. The Food and Drug Administration granted an emergency use authorization for Remdesivir, which is developed by Gilead, earlier this year after it improved outcomes for hospitalized coronavirus patients.

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Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.

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