Trump baselessly says he may be ‘immune’ to COVID-19 after being hospitalized and treated with a steroid used for severe cases

• President Donald Trump received treatment for COVID-19 at Walter Reed Medical Center over the weekend, returning to the White House on Monday evening. 
• Upon his return, Trump baselessly suggested he might be “immune” to COVID-19. 
• After being diagnosed with COVID-19 last week, Trump was hospitalized and administered supplemental oxygen, an experimental antibody cocktail, and a steroid generally used for severe cases of the virus.
• Trump is still infected with the virus. There’s no evidence he’s immune. 
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President Donald Trump on Monday baselessly suggested he might be “immune” to COVID-19 after a weekend in which he was hospitalized and administered supplemental oxygen, an experimental antibody cocktail, and a steroid generally used for severe cases of the virus.

“I knew there’s danger to it. But I had to do it. I stood out front. I led. Nobody that’s a leader would not do what I did. I know there’s a risk…But that’s OK. And now I’m better. Maybe I’m immune, I don’t know,” Trump said in a video posted to Twitter upon his return from Walter Reed Medical Center, where he was transferred on Friday as his condition worsened.

But just hours earlier, White House physician Sean Conley said Trump “may not be entirely out of the woods yet” with the virus. The president is still infected with the virus and will continue to receive treatment at the White House. In short, there’s no evidence that Trump is immune to COVID-19 at this point in time. 

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

As Trump announced he would leave the hospital in a tweet hours earlier, he once again downplayed the threat of COVID-19 after a weekend in which he received treatment that’s largely unavailable to most Americans. 

“Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don’t let it dominate your life,” Trump tweeted. “We have developed, under the Trump Administration, some really great drugs & knowledge. I feel better than I did 20 years ago!”

There have been more than 7.4 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the US and over 210,000 reported fatalities, per Johns Hopkins. The US has the highest COVID-19 numbers in the world in this regard. 

At least 13 people in Trump’s orbit have tested positive for COVID-19 in recent days.