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Morning Briefing

Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations

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Monday, Oct 12 2020

Full Issue

Is Trump 'Immune'? Not So Fast, Infectious Disease Experts Say

Donald Trump tweeted "I can鈥檛 get it (immune), and can鈥檛 give it," after his physician said the president is "no longer considered a transmission risk to others." But epidemiologists say it's uncertain if Trump is contagious or has immunity. The White House continues to dodge questions about whether he is still testing positive for COVID-19.

President Trump tweeted on Sunday that he is 鈥渋mmune鈥 to the novel coronavirus and 鈥渃an鈥檛 give it,鈥 even though the White House has not released any negative test results and immunity to the virus remains poorly understood. The tweet was quickly flagged by Twitter, which said it contained 鈥渕isleading and potentially harmful misinformation鈥 related to the coronavirus. It was the latest example of the social media giant pushing back against the president鈥檚 posts on the deadly virus, and it appeared to refer to Trump鈥檚 claim to immunity. Some recovered patients with covid-19, the disease caused by the virus, have been reinfected, and experts say many questions remain about immunity, including how long it lasts. (Brulliard and Sonmez, 10/11)

President Donald Trump on Sunday declared he was ready to return to the campaign trail despite unanswered questions about his health on the eve of a Florida rally meant to kick off the stretch run before Election Day. His impending return comes after the White House doctor said he was no longer at risk of transmitting the coronavirus but did not say explicitly whether Trump had tested negative for it. The president insisted he was now 鈥渋mmune鈥 from the virus, a claim that was impossible to prove and added to the unknowns about the president鈥檚 health. 鈥淚鈥檓 immune,鈥 Trump said in an interview on Fox News Channel鈥檚 鈥淪unday Morning Futures.鈥 鈥淭he president is in very good shape to fight the battles.鈥 (Lemire and Yen, 10/11)

Ask an infectious disease doctor whether the president still has coronavirus, and you quickly realize that "having" the virus is a concept that exists more among laypeople than doctors. "We try to avoid that question," says Dr. Amesh Adalja, senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center of Health Security. "It becomes much harder to explain to people, well why is the test positive when you're saying he's not contagious? It's because, that far out, it's not viable virus." (Schwartz, 10/11)

鈥淣ow at day 10 from symptom onset, fever-free for well over 24 hours and all symptoms improved, the assortment of advanced diagnostic tests obtained reveal there is no longer evidence of actively replicating virus,鈥 said Dr. Sean Conley in a memo. 鈥淢oving forward, I will continue to monitor him clinically as he returns to an active schedule.鈥 Conley added that Trump had demonstrated 鈥渄ecreasing viral loads.鈥 Viral load refers to聽how much virus is present聽in any sample taken from a patient, whether it鈥檚 blood or 鈥 in the case of Covid-19 鈥 secretions collected during a聽deep nasal swab. (10/10)

Also 鈥

A tweet from President Trump claiming that he was now "immune" to COVID-19 after his treatment for the virus last week was tagged by the platform as "misleading" on Sunday. The tweet in question, posted late Sunday morning, stated that the president received a "total and complete sign off from White House Doctors yesterday." "That means I can鈥檛 get it (immune), and can鈥檛 give it. Very nice to know!!!" he continued. (Bowden, 10/11)

This is part of the Morning Briefing, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.
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