ABC News
- President Donald Trump can be seen appearing to struggle for breath as he returned to the White House on Monday.
- In footage designed to show his recovery, the president climbs stairs and removes his mask before entering the White House.
- But after removing the mask the president’s breathing appears labored — one of the most common symptoms of COVID-19.
- One medical expert said the footage is a “textbook example of increased work of breathing.”
- Trump in a video Monday night claimed to have recovered from his illness. But his doctor said it would be about a week before it will be clear.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
Footage of President Donald Trump returning to the White House on Monday after being treated for COVID-19 in hospital appears to show him having difficulty breathing.
Trump on Monday evening left hospital despite being still infected with the illness.
Arriving at the White House in front of news cameras he climbed a set of stairs, removed his mask on the balcony, saluted the departing helicopter, and stepped into the building.
—Brennan Murphy (@brenonade) October 5, 2020
The sequence appeared designed to show that Trump has recovered and is back in business after the diagnosis that left him hospitalized for three days.
But some medical experts pointed out that Trump appears far from well, commenting on his apparent struggle to breathe.
—Ilan Schwartz MD PhD (@GermHunterMD) October 6, 2020
—TerryAdirimMD (@TerryAdirimMD) October 6, 2020
Dr Ilhan Schwarz, an assistant professor at the University of Alberta, Canada, and expert in lung diseases, said Trump's breathing appeared abnormal.
He said: "This is a textbook example of increased work of breathing. In addition to using normal respiratory muscles (the diaphragm & those between the ribs that expand the chest cavity), 'accessory muscles' in his neck are kicking in to help draw a breath."
A British doctor after watching the footage also concluded that the president remains unwell.
"He doesn't look well. If you look at the video on the balcony of the White House he is clearly having difficulty breathing. That is not a man that is better," Dr Zoe Norris, a general practitioner and lecturer, told BBC Breakfast early Tuesday.
Trump in a video posted online after his return to the White House claimed to have recovered.
"Now I'm better and maybe I'm immune, I don't know," remarked Trump. "Don't be afraid of it," he told Americans of the disease. Allies shared a meme showing him wrestling the coronavirus into submission.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The image Trump sought to portray with his dramatic return to the White House also clashed with a more sober assessment from his medical team.
In a press briefing earlier in on Monday, Dr Sean Conley told reporters that the president was "not entirely out of the woods yet."
However, Conley did say that Trump's oxygen levels and "his work of breathing are all normal."
Conley said Trump will "be surrounded by world class medical care 24/7," even after his return.
But Conley in the briefing that it would be about a week before doctors would know whether Trump had made a full recovery.
"If we can get through to Monday [October 12] with him remaining the same or improving better yet, then we will all take that final deep sigh of relief," said Conley.
Commenting to the Washington Post, Daniel Kaul, an infectious-diseases expert at the University of Michigan, said that people of Trump's age with a similar severity of infection can suffer symptoms for weeks.
Such patients, Kaul remarked, "usually have a pretty slow recovery, with weeks and sometimes months of cognitive difficulties, shortness of breath, severe fatigue."
Contradictory accounts of Trump's conditions have been circulated by official sources for days, with the president seeking to portray himself as having successfully conquered the illness, while his physicians revealed that he was being treated using drugs reserved for those with more severe infections.