Week In The News: The President's Coronavirus Diagnosis
President Trump started the week dismissing the virus that put him in the hospital and upended the White House. We’ll look at how the administration’s credibility and the President’s response have tinged almost everything that happened this week.
Guests
Paula Reid, White House correspondent for CBS News. (@PaulaReidCBS)
Kimberly Atkins, senior opinion writer for the Boston Globe. (@KimberlyEAtkins)
Joan Biskupic, CNN legal analyst covering the Supreme Court. (@joanbiskupic)
Jack Beatty, On Point news analyst. (@JackBeattyNPR)
From The Reading List
The New York Times: “Trump’s Positive Coronavirus Test Upends Campaign in Final Stretch” — “President Trump’s announcement on Friday that he had contracted the coronavirus upended the presidential race in an instant, leaving both sides to confront a wrenching set of strategic choices and unexpected questions that will help shape the final month before Election Day.”
CBS News: “Trump returns to Oval Office, says it’s a “blessing from God” that he got COVID-19” — “President Trump has returned to the Oval Office, less than one week after he announced he tested positive for COVID-19. The president may still be contagious, and White House staff who come near the president must wear full personal protective equipment.”
CNN: “Senior Pentagon leadership quarantining after exposure to coronavirus” — “The top US general, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley, and several members of the Pentagon’s senior leadership are quarantining after a top Coast Guard official tested positive for coronavirus, several US defense officials tell CNN.”
The New York Times: “White House Is Not Tracing Contacts for ‘Super-Spreader’ Rose Garden Event” — “Despite almost daily disclosures of new coronavirus infections among President Trump’s close associates, the White House is making little effort to investigate the scope and source of its outbreak.”
The New York Times: “White House Blocks New Coronavirus Vaccine Guidelines” — “Top White House officials are blocking strict new federal guidelines for the emergency release of a coronavirus vaccine, objecting to a provision that would almost certainly guarantee that no vaccine could be authorized before the election on Nov. 3, according to people familiar with the approval process.”
NBC News: “For those reeling from Covid losses, Trump comes across as boastful, insensitive” — “Experience is supposed to be the best teacher, but the lessons of Covid-19 are lost on President Donald Trump, according to many people who have lost loved ones to the disease. That, in a nutshell, was the reaction of several still-grieving Americans a day after Trump was released from the hospital and declared, ‘Don’t be afraid of Covid.'”
Science: “Here’s what is known about Trump’s COVID-19 treatment” — “On October 2, the White House announced President Donald Trump received an experimental antibody treatment after a test revealed he’s infected with SARS-CoV-2. At the time, he reportedly had mild COVID-19 symptoms, including fever and congestion, and he was transferred to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. Later, the president’s medical team confirmed he had started a course of remdesivir, an antiviral drug shown to modestly help hospitalized COVID-19 patients. Two days later, on 4 October, the team revealed Trump had been given a steroid normally reserved for severe COVID-19 cases”
This article was originally published on WBUR.org. [Copyright 2020 NPR]
