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CAMPAIGN UPENDED

The diagnosis was the latest setback for the Republican president, who is trailing Democratic rival Joe Biden in opinion polls ahead of the Nov. 3 presidential election.

With Trump in the hospital, his campaign announced “Operation MAGA,” based on his slogan “Make America Great Again,” which will see high-profile allies including Vice President Mike Pence and Trump’s elder sons, Donald Jr. and Eric, take over in-person campaigning starting next week.

Pence, who tested negative on Friday, is scheduled to debate Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris on Wednesday.

Biden, who largely avoided direct criticism of Trump during a campaign trip to Michigan on Friday, took a more aggressive tone on Saturday while speaking to a transit workers’ union on Saturday, even as he wished the president well.

“I’m in a little bit of a spot here, because I don’t want to be attacking the president and the first lady now,” Biden said, adding he hoped the Trumps make a full recovery.

But he quickly pivoted to Trump’s response to the pandemic, calling it “unconscionable” and blasting Trump’s comment in an interview this summer that “it is what it is” when asked about the death toll.

“I find this one of the most despicable things that I’ve encountered in my whole career,” Biden said.

Biden, who tested negative on Friday, told reporters he would next be tested on Sunday. His campaign will begin releasing the results of each test, a spokesman said.

The Democratic candidate has eschewed big events in favor of low-key appearances with few or no attendees, while Trump has held large rallies with little social distancing.

Biden has used Trump’s diagnosis to bolster his calls for people to wear masks, a practice that Trump has questioned.

Trump has repeatedly downplayed the threat of the coronavirus pandemic this year, even as it has killed more than 200,000 Americans and hammered the U.S. economy.

Mid article section

https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-health-coronavirus-trump-idINKBN26O03M

But his comments raised far more questions than they answered. For instance, asked whether Trump had lung damage, Conley said he had undergone ultrasounds. That did not answer the lung question and created another: Were the ultrasounds for his lung or for another body part, like the heart?

He said Trump did not need supplemental oxygen Thursday, Saturday, or “when we were all here” on Friday—but he danced around the question of whether the president had been on oxygen at any point in between. The Times and AP reports of oxygen being given on Friday at the White House suggest Conley did want to disclose that and framed his answer so he did not have to but was not blatantly lying.

Conley also said Trump’s fever is gone, though he would not say how high his temperature had been. And he claimed his cardiac, liver and kidney function was normal.

The president’s oxygen-saturation rate on Saturday hovered between 96 and 98 percent, which is not in the danger zone, but his doctors did not say if it had ever been lower. Hours later, Meadows told Fox News that on Friday “his blood oxygen level had dropped rapidly.”

Trump also received a dose of the experimental anti-viral remdesivir at Walter Reed on Friday—and a second one on Saturday. Conley said it had not been decided if he would get the full, five-day course or how long he might be hospitalized.

He did note that the the peak period for the inflammation phase that can make coronavirus so life-threatening is seven to 10 days after onset, and Trump has not passed through that.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/