Doctor slams Trump for leaving hospital to drive by supporters: 'The irresponsibility is astounding'

(Image credit: AP Photo/Anthony Peltier)

published 5 October 2020

Dr. James Phillips, chief of disaster and operational medicine in the Department of Emergency Medicine at George Washington University Hospital and an attending physician at Walter Reed, tweeted on Sunday night he was shocked by President Trump's decision to leave the hospital where he is receiving treatment for COVID-19 in order to wave at supporters.

Trump was accompanied on his jaunt by at least two Secret Service agents, and Phillips said that "every single person in the vehicle during that completely unnecessary presidential 'drive-by' just now has to be quarantined for 14 days. They might get sick. They may die. For political theater. Commanded by Trump to put their lives at risk for theater. This is insanity."

Phillips added that for safety reasons, Trump's SUV was bulletproof and hermetically sealed to withstand a chemical attack. That means the "risk of COVID-19 transmission inside is as high as it gets outside of medical procedures. The irresponsibility is astounding. My thoughts are with the Secret Service forced to play."

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.