Health News at Your Fingertips

An MSNBC reporter is saying that attorney general William Barr is self-quarantining at home, though Barr has taken four negative tests since Friday morning.

Commenting on Donald Trump’s appearance outside of Walter Reed Hospital, where he waved to supporters from inside an SUV, the White House released a statement that said the president “took a short, last-minute motorcade ride to wave to his supporters outside and has now returned to the Presidential Suite inside Walter Reed.”

Reporters on Twitter are pointing out that it appears that the other people in the car, likely Secret Service detail, were wearing PPE including medical-grade masks and eye protection.

White House pool reporters also mentioned on Twitter that they were told that no other events were happening after 3 pm today and were not informed about Trump’s appearance.

Reaction to Donald Trump making a surprise, very brief appearance outside of Walter Reed Hospital just moments ago, when he waved to supporters while in an SUV, is starting to appear on Twitter.

While Trump said that contracting the virus has allowed him to understand the virus, he chose to get into a car with other people even though he is contagious, something that multiple health experts have pointed out puts others at risk.

Jonathan Reiner, a professor of medicine at George Washington University, said the president put his Secret Service detail “at grave risk”.

“In the hospital when we go into close contact with a COVID patient we dress in full PPE: Gown, gloves, N95, eye protection, hat. This is the height of irresponsibility,” Reiner wrote.

One reporter said an anonymous Secret Service source said Trump’s appearance was “so reckless, so careless, so heartless”.

It’s been a rather bizarre 15 minutes: Donald Trump tweeted a video moments ago that said he was “about to make a little surprise visit” to supporters who have gathered outside of Walter Reed Hospital, where the president has been under medical care since Friday.

In the video, Trump said (seven months into the pandemic) that he’s “learned a lot about Covid” and saying that contracting the virus has been the “real school”, saying “this isn’t the ‘let’s-read-the-books’ school”.

Trump indeed made an appearance, but it was a quick drive-by where, inside a car, he waved to cheering supporters. One video on Twitter showed Trump, wearing a mask, waving a giving a thumbs up to the crowd. Reports say the appearance lasted about a minute.

The White House did not disclose that Donald Trump received a positive test result from a Covid-19 rapid test on Thursday, opting to carry on business-as-usual until the more thorough Covid-19 screening confirmed the president has Covid-19.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting this afternoon from anonymous sources familiar with the matter that the president attempted to keep the positive test result from the rapid test mum, saying on Fox News Thursday night that he was awaiting test results when the president already knew about his positive rapid test result. Trump tweeted at 1 am that morning that he tested positive for Covid-19.

The Journal is reporting that close members of the president’s team have been kept out of the loop about the potential spread of the virus in the White House. Trump’s campaign manager Bill Stephien did not know that Hope Hicks, a close aide to the president, had tested positive until news reports came out about her case Thursday night.

“I’m glued to Twitter and TV because I have no official communication from anyone in the West Wing,” an administration official to the Journal.

Donald Trump just tweeted his appreciation to “all the fans and supporters outside the hospital”.

“The fact is, they really love our Country and are seeing how we are MAKING IT GREATER THAN EVER BEFORE!” the president wrote on Twitter.

Supporters of the president gathered outside Walter Reed Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland, where Trump is being held, wearing MAGA hats and holding signs affirming their support of Trump since yesterday afternoon.

Some reports say that a handful of supporters weren’t wearing masks or practicing social distancing.

Reporters on Twitter have suggested that some people showing up outside the hospital are a part of QAnon, the far-right conspiracy theorist group that believes Trump is waging a secret battle against the “deep state”.

GOP senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania announced his retirement today, setting the stage for what will be a contentious fight for his open Senate seat in 2022.

Toomey’s reelection in 2016 was settled after what turned out to be the most expensive Senate race in history after groups from outside the state funnelled money into Toomey’s campaign and that of his Democratic candidate, Katie McGinty. The race saw $113 million and showed just how valuable a single seat in the Senate can be for either party. Toomey won by getting just over 1% more votes than McGinty.

The Philadelphia Inquirer first reported that Toomey will be announcing a decision to retire tomorrow. The senator isn’t expected to run for governor in 2022, though he was considered the front-runner GOP candidate for the gubernatorial office.

A reporter for Vice News said on Twitter that, among potential replacements Pennsylvania Republicans have floated the idea of Donald Trump Jr., the president’s son, of running for the seat. Trump has never held elected office before.

Though Joe Biden’s campaign promised last night to release the results of every Covid test the former vice president takes, his campaign has yet to release a test result since Friday, when Biden tested negative.

The campaign has gone ahead and released Biden’s schedule for tomorrow, which includes two in-person events.

Biden will be in Miami for an in-person event at a Haitian cultural center and will speak in Miami’s Little Havana. Jill Biden will be attending a Women for Biden rally in Boca Raton.

Lara Trump, Donald Trump’s daughter-in-law, and a handful of faith leaders close to the White House will be holding a “call to prayer” for the president and the first lady at 5pm tonight.

The faith leaders will include Paula White-Cain, Trump’s evangelical spiritual advisor who also runs a megachurch in Florida. The prayer will be held virtually.

This is Lauren Aratani taking over for Amanda Holpuch. White House director of strategic communication Alyssa Farah implied that Sean Conley, the White House doctor who is overseeing Donald Trump, was trying to “project confidence” when saying yesterday that “the president is doing very well” despite contradictory reports that came out moments later.

Farah, speaking to reporters, said that Conley was giving “a snapshot in time” and that, on Saturday, Donald Trump was doing “extremely well”.

She dove into an explanation into Conley’s mindset when treating the president: “When you’re treating a patient, you want to project confidence, you want to lift their spirits and that was the intent.”

An odd quote from Sean Conley during his update on Donald Trump’s health. “I didn’t want to give any information that might steer the course of illness in another direction,” Conley said when explaining his reluctance to say Trump had been on oxygen earlier this week. I assume Conley means coverage of Trump’s illness, rather than the illness itself.

Dr Brian Garibaldi’s statement that Trump may be OK to return home to the White House may come back to haunt the administration. If Trump isn’t released tomorrow, it will appear his condition has worsened. There is speculation it is Trump himself who is pushing for an early release.