Trump Returns Home After Downplaying Disease, but Doctor Says He Isn’t ‘Out of the Woods’

US President Donald Trump told Americans “to get out there” and not fear COVID-19 after he returned to the White House on Monday following three nights in a military hospital where he received experimental treatments to tackle a disease that has killed more than 210,000 Americans.

Trump, who still has the virus and remains contagious, took off his mask to pose for pictures and salute from the balcony of the White House. He later tweeted a video capturing his return to Washington, DC, and a message to his supporters.

Trump said he felt “real good” about his return to the White House, where a cluster of cases have emerged since he, his wife Melania and close adviser Hope Hicks were diagnosed last week. Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany, along with two assistants and three White House journalists are the latest to test positive.

Trump wore a mask as he got out of the helicopter that flew him back from the Walter Reed military hospital outside Washington, DC, but removed it after he climbed the stairs of the White House South Portico, where he posed for pictures, waving, saluting and giving thumbs-up signs.

He then turned to walk into the White House, filmed by a cameraman, his mask still in his pocket.

“It was President Trump’s reality TV in a way; carefully produced, striking what he hopes are all the right notes,” said Al Jazeera’s Mike Hanna, reporting from Washington, DC. Trump, a New York property developer, was best known as the star of the reality television show, The Apprentice, before he became president in 2016.

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— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 5, 2020

The Republican president, who is running for re-election against Democrat Joe Biden in the November 3 election, was admitted to hospital on Friday after being diagnosed with the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

“Don’t let it dominate you. Don’t be afraid of it,” Trump said in the video message which he shared on Twitter. “We’re going to beat it. Don’t let it take over your lives. Maybe I’m immune, I don’t know.”

His doctor says he isn’t ‘out of the woods.

After spending three nights at the Walter Reed medical center, President Trump returned on Monday evening to the White House, where he will continue to receive treatment for Covid-19. His physician, Dr. Sean P. Conley, had said earlier in the day that the president was not “out of the woods yet.”

Mr. Trump, wearing a mask and a suit, passed through the hospital’s large golden doors, paused atop a flight of steps and pumped his fist a few times at chest level. He did not respond to shouted questions from the news media as he walked past, unaccompanied. “Thank you very much, everybody,” he said with a wave.

Mr. Trump then boarded a black S.U.V. that drove him to his presidential helicopter, Marine One, for the short flight to the White House. He offered a thumbs-up just before stepping onto his helicopter, which departed just after 6:45 p.m. for the 10-minute flight.

After landing on the South Lawn, Mr. Trump ascended a flight of stairs and then turned to face his helicopter — and the live television cameras — and removed his mask before giving the departing Marine One a long salute.

He then turned and walked into the White House residence — without donning his mask. Several masked people, including what appeared to be an official photographer capturing the moment, were inside.

The three major network newscasts on ABC, CBS and NBC carried it all live, the kind of blanket television coverage that Mr. Trump relishes. But after climbing the stairs, Mr. Trump appeared to be short of breath.

At a briefing earlier in the day, Dr. Conley said, “Over the past 24 hours, the president has continued to improve,” adding, “He’s met or exceeded all standard hospital discharge criteria.”

The president’s doctors evaded some key questions about the president’s condition, including his lung function and the date of his last negative coronavirus test before he tested positive. They said that he had received a third dose of the antiviral drug remdesivir, and that he has continued to take dexamethasone, a steroid drug that has been shown to be beneficial to patients who are very sick with Covid-19.

“We’re looking to this weekend,” Dr. Conley said. “If we can get through to Monday, with him remaining the same or improving better yet, then we will all take that final deep sigh of relief.”

Dr. Conley did not give a firm answer about whether Mr. Trump would be confined to his residence. The West Wing is experiencing a growing outbreak, with Mr. Trump’s press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, joining the list on Monday of his close aides who have tested positive.

The doctors’ remarks came after Mr. Trump tweeted that he would be returning to the White House, which is equipped with a medical suite. In doing so, as he has throughout the pandemic, he downplayed the seriousness of a virus that has killed more than 210,000 people in the United States, writing in his post, “Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don’t let it dominate your life.”

After returning home, the president later posted a video on Twitter, where he again downplayed the virus, saying, “One thing that’s for certain: don’t let it dominate you; don’t be afraid of it. You’re going to beat it.”

That exhortation quickly resonated, with some Democrats, scientists and relatives of victims denouncing the president as cavalier and dismissive about a disease that has killed so many, sickened more than 7.4 million and upended daily life across the country.

It was not the first time Mr. Trump has drawn criticism for being cavalier about the pandemic. On Sunday, when he left his quarters at Walter Reed to wave to supporters from an S.U.V., some doctors and others noted the “irresponsibility” of being in a sealed vehicle and potentially exposing Secret Service agents for an unnecessary stunt.

Critics also noted the president is receiving care that isn’t available to most people, including an experimental antibody treatment that is still being tested in clinical trials and has been given to only a few hundred people.

The manufacturer, Regeneron, has said that most of those who have gotten the cocktail have done so as participants in the trials, although in a handful of cases they have received it outside of the studies, as Mr. Trump did.

Dr. Conley would not discuss the findings of a scan of Mr. Trump’s lungs, which can be affected by the respiratory virus. His doctors had earlier said that his blood oxygen levels had dropped at least twice, and that he had received supplemental oxygen, which would indicate that his lungs were not functioning properly.

“There are HIPAA rules and regulations that restrict me in sharing certain things for his safety and his own health and reasons,” Dr. Conley said, referring to a federal law that restricts what type of patient information health professionals can share. On Sunday, Dr. Conley was also evasive, avoiding questions about whether any lung damage or pneumonia was revealed by the president’s X-rays.

Mr. Trump’s return home was a dramatic turn of events given that just a day earlier, his medical team had presented mixed messages about his condition, saying that the president was feeling well but also revealing that he had been prescribed the steroid dexamethasone, which is typically not used unless someone needs mechanical ventilation or supplemental oxygen.

Some medical experts said on Monday that given Mr. Trump’s risk factors — he is 74, male and overweight — he should be closely watched for at least the first week of his infection because some patients quickly deteriorate several days into their illness.

“I think it would be disastrous to be in a situation where he gets really sick at the White House, and you’re having to emergency transfer him,” said Dr. Céline Gounder of N.Y.U. Grossman School of Medicine, who has been caring for Covid-19 patients. “To me, it’s not safe.”

Dr. Mangala Narasimhan, the director of critical care services for Northwell Health, the largest health care provider in New York State, said that if the president does not need oxygen, it may be reasonable for him to go home, given that he can receive medical treatment at the White House.

But she said the information about his condition was too limited to allow outside experts to assess his condition. “We’re all guessing,” she said.

She, too, warned that Mr. Trump was heading into a critical period. “There could be a very rapid decline in these patients,” she said, adding that some develop blood clots in their lungs and other pulmonary problems, and need to be quickly put on ventilators.

Culled from Nytimes.com