White House doctor says Trump can emerge from isolation, doesn't specify test results
White House physician Dr. Sean Conley released a memo Saturday night saying President Trump is "no longer considered a transmission risk" and is safe to come out of isolation more than a week after he first tested positive for the coronavirus.
Conley didn't reveal much more information than that, but he said the decision was based off Trump's Saturday morning "COVID PCR sample." That doesn't mean the president tested negative for COVID-19, but Conley said "there is no longer evidence of actively replicating virus." Trump is also reportedly still fever-free and all other symptoms have "improved," but Conley didn't say if he was still exhibiting any.
There's nothing particularly out of the ordinary about Conley's announcement — as CNN notes, research has shown PCR tests can come back positive for COVID-19 patients even when they're no longer infectious, because they can still pick up pieces of the virus' genetic material long after recovery. But there are still some concerns about whether Trump's infection was more severe than the White House has admitted publicly. In more serious cases, patients may need to isolate for 20 rather than 10 days, per The New York Times. And even if there is no transmission risk, Dr. Krutika Kuppalli, an infectious disease physician in South Carolina, told the Times that Trump is "not out of the woods for certain" when it comes to his own health.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Regardless, the president made his first public appearance at the White House on Saturday afternoon and is prepared to resume campaign activities this week. Read more at The New York Times and NPR.
-
Political cartoons for January 27Cartoons Tuesday's political cartoons include booting out Bovino, a Rittenhouse reminder, and needling with Newsom
-
Judge tosses DOJ petition for Oregon voter dataSpeed Read The decision was made following a letter sent by the DOJ to Minnesota
-
Israel retrieves final hostage’s body from GazaSpeed Read The 24-year-old police officer was killed during the initial Hamas attack
-
Israel retrieves final hostage’s body from Gaza
Speed Read The 24-year-old police officer was killed during the initial Hamas attack
-
China’s Xi targets top general in growing purgeSpeed Read Zhang Youxia is being investigated over ‘grave violations’ of the law
-
Panama and Canada are negotiating over a crucial copper mineIn the Spotlight Panama is set to make a final decision on the mine this summer
-
Why Greenland’s natural resources are nearly impossible to mineThe Explainer The country’s natural landscape makes the task extremely difficult
-
Iran cuts internet as protests escalateSpeed Reada Government buildings across the country have been set on fire
-
US nabs ‘shadow’ tanker claimed by RussiaSpeed Read The ship was one of two vessels seized by the US military
-
Maduro pleads not guilty in first US court hearingSpeed Read Deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores pleaded not guilty to cocaine trafficking and narco-terrorism conspiracy
-
Iran’s government rocked by protestsSpeed Read The death toll from protests sparked by the collapse of Iran’s currency has reached at least 19
