President Donald Trump has returned to the White House after three days of hush around the military hospital where he was being treated for COVID-19.
Trump emerged to the clatter of helicopter rotor blades and the cries of supporters chanting, “Trump, Trump, Trump.”
Some had waited all day to see him and were hoping for another drive-by in his armoured limo, as he had done the day before.
Nevertheless, they were happy when he boarded Marine One and flew off over the crowd gathered in front of Walter Reed military hospital in Bethesda, just outside Washington, DC.
“I’m not disappointed based on the security,” said Jasmine Rochon, who had driven 120 miles on Monday from Philadelphia. “But the fact that he flew in and made sure that he turned and waved at us, that’s good enough for me,” she said.
Just before a scheduled briefing from his doctors, Trump tweeted he would be leaving at 18:30 (22:30 GMT), adding that he felt “really good”.
“Feeling really good!” Trump tweeted.
“Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don’t let it dominate your life. We have developed, under the Trump Administration, some really great drugs & knowledge. I feel better than I did 20 years ago!!”
I will be leaving the great Walter Reed Medical Center today at 6:30 P.M. Feeling really good! Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don’t let it dominate your life. We have developed, under the Trump Administration, some really great drugs & knowledge. I feel better than I did 20 years ago!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 5, 2020
- Questions on Seriousness
But questions remain over the seriousness of Mr Trump’s illness after a weekend of conflicting statements.
The true scale of the outbreak at the White House remains unclear.
The president’s discharge comes as more new cases have been reported among White House staff.
At least 12 people close to Mr. Trump have now tested positive, as have several junior staff members.
Many of these people went to an event at the White House Rose Garden on 26 September that is now being scrutinised as a “super-spreader event”.
The White House has not revealed how many staff members have tested positive since Trump’s own diagnosis.
Press secretary Kayleigh McEnany became the latest high-profile figure close to the president to confirm a positive test earlier on Monday.
First Lady Melania Trump, senior aides, and several Republican senators have also tested positive.
- Back to the Campaign
Wearing their red “Make America Great Again” baseball caps, the fans of the real estate tycoon and reality TV star waited all day at the main entrance to the hospital, waving flags and singing the songs usually blared out at Trump rallies — “Proud to Be an American,” “Born in the USA,” “Sweet Home Alabama,” “Beat It” and “Rocketman.
The crowd was later moved on by police, regrouping on the other side of the wide road running past the hospital grounds, close to the group of journalists whom some of the Trump fans had spent the day hurling insults at.
“I’m very happy, that is wonderful news,” said a maskless Karen Sloan, 50, a resident of Washington holding a sign that read “Prayers for the president, 4 more years.”
“That means that he was able to overcome that flu,” she said. “He’s just made of iron. The first thing he should do at the White House is to give Melania a big kiss and get back to work.”
A little further along, Sally Ashcroft, 72, wanted the president to “go back to the campaign trail,” which he had to abandon due to his illness, with just a month to go before the November 3 election.
Philadelphia resident Rochon said the president “should prove now to the world that this Covid-19 virus is not that lethal,” even though the president was the beneficiary of an experimental treatment not yet available to other Americans.
“We should go back to normal, we need to reopen the whole world,” she said. “A lot of people are suffering, losing their job and their income” from the pandemic that has killed more than 210,000 people in the United States. (AFP)
