Chairman of medicine at the University of California San Francisco, Robert Wachter, appeared on CNN Wednesday to debunk the myth that President Donald J. Trump is "feeling great" after his hospitalization and eventual return home to the White House from Walter Reed Medical Center. In fact, the overarching message from Wachter was the exact opposite: Trump may have "a significant chance of dying" with his COVID-19 viral load.
"If [the statement] is to be believed, it sounds like he is pretty stable," Wachter told CNN Correspondent Brianna Keilar. "It sounds like his vital signs are stable, he's not requiring any oxygen and he has no symptoms - that's good. The absence of fever and the absence of symptoms when someone is on steroids is a little dicey to lay your hat on because steroids can make fever go away and can make people feel better even though they're still kind of sick, that was my observation of the helicopter trip and taking the steps up to the White House the other day."
Wachter added, "Patients often feel invincible on steroids, but then they get to the top and there's that reckoning of clearly shorter breath... He is not out of the woods and won't really be until next week."
In the segment, White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins told Keilar what it's like these days in the White House.
"There's a thing called an isolation cart outside the Oval Office that has yellow hospital gowns, respirators, goggles to go over your eyes, things of that nature if they do go into the Oval to meet with the president. There are very few people working out of the West Wing," she said. "Quite a difference from a week ago when nobody even wearing a mask now and there's PPE set up to meet with the president."
Watch the video below.