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Trump says he may take drug to treat coronavirus, questions states' ventilator needs

Published 04/04/2020, 09:24 PM
Updated 04/05/2020, 08:25 AM
© Reuters. U.S. President Trump leads the daily coronavirus response briefing at the White House in Washington

© Reuters. U.S. President Trump leads the daily coronavirus response briefing at the White House in Washington

By Jeff Mason and Lindsay Dunsmuir

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump on Saturday doubled down on his support for a drug that is still being tested to treat the coronavirus, saying he might take the medicine himself and encouraging others with doctor approval to do the same.

At his daily press briefing, Trump also chided some states for requesting more ventilators from the federal government than he said they needed.

Trump said the next week would be particularly tough with a "lot of death" coming from the coronavirus. But he also reiterated his concern that the social distancing "cure" for the outbreak was worse than the problem.

Trump faced criticism for initially playing down the risks of the coronavirus and has vacillated between warning Americans about its severity and complaining about its economic costs.

Trump's optimistic comments on Saturday about the benefits of anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, reflected his tendency to put a positive spin on an issue even as data was still being gathered.

"I may take it," Trump said. "I'll have to ask my doctors about that, but I may take it." Trump has been tested twice for the coronavirus, according to the White House, and both times the results were negative.

The European Commission said this week that the efficacy of hydroxychloroquine treating COVID-19 had not been proven.

Trump said the federal government had 29 million doses of the drug and was adding to its national stockpile. He said he had asked Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday to lift a hold on a U.S. order of the drug as well.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued an emergency authorization for the drug to be distributed from the national stockpile for doctors to prescribe to hospitalized COVID-19 patients, even as tests continue to be conducted and data collected.

"We're just hearing really positive stories and we're continuing to collect the data," Trump said.

The president said fears of shortages had prompted U.S. states to request more ventilators than they needed. He said the federal government had 10,000 in its stockpile. “Some states have more ventilators than they need, they don’t even like to admit it,” he said.

The president, a Republican who is running for re-election in November, also praised Republican governors who have not issued "stay at home" orders for their states.

“They’re doing very well and they’re doing a magnificent job of running their states," he said.

Even as top doctors emphasized the importance and effectiveness of social distancing measures, Trump again seemed to chafe at their impact on the economy.

“We’re not going to destroy our country," he said. "We cannot let this continue, so at a certain point some hard decisions are going to have to be made.”

© Reuters. U.S. President Trump leads the daily coronavirus response briefing at the White House in Washington

The current federal guidelines, which include admonitions for people to wash their hands and avoid groups larger than 10, are in place through the end of April.

Latest comments

trump will freebase the malaria drug live on TV later today lol
Fake cases fake causes of death. States money grab wake up blue pill chumps.
Past performance predicts future statements. He said he may take this new drug this week and deny that this documented statement in the future...
anything trump can do to pump a stock market he claims that he cares less about
Hasn't he worked it out that if you do less tests the numbers will drop causing the market to soar?
ONE THIRD OF ALL OUR DEBT has now been accumulated under trump we will hit 30 trillion dollars by next year no other president has done so much damage than this psychotic monster what did we receive for all that money......NOTHING......no infrastructure, no better healthcare just super rich people with even more money
Apparently Atlantic City was just a practice run for him.
yeah, under the big "O", moe was ranked up than all others combined before him right? I think those were "shovel ready" jobs? I remember those and his admission later there never were any shovel ready jobs -
I was wrong. You aren't the Joe Jackalone I knew.
look like economy is more important than US public life. look like US economy is generate itself without man power. hehe
Look like ecommee to me. what you eat ?
better its coming with the solution to save the world
Hope so Mpho -
The sooner Trump takes this drug the sooner the world is free of a chaotic person to whose incompetence Americans have started giving their elder loved ones' lives. Americans are starting to pay the price for falling prey to a conman.
You are of dirt. Even having the word sun in your name is an unfortunate relation.
What does it has to do with the world? He is a president of USA dummy.
Sure, LOL. Trump is out of touch with reality, and he ain't care for people, only for money. Read this by googling:  How science finally caught up with Trump's playbook – with millions of lives at stake
thank god for Trump
Trump is a great president that continues following the constitution unlike the marxist Democrats. They are NOT Democratic by any means!
.. Uhh. We are a Republic !! Not a Democracy ..
TDS governors sit back and whine about a lack of supplies coming from the Federal government... They act like they are completely dependent on Trump, they can't do anything themselves. They did not prepare their states, but that is Trump's fault... Complete nonsense.
Didn't Mario's boy not order vents under big "O" and buy into Sun collection?
One of the more marxist things you have written here Duck. Stay in your country, stay unemployed and talk outa well, you know...
I believe the same advice should apply to US troops, they should just go back to US and leave the world alone. Nobody needs US style 'democracy'.
Will you vote for such a prez again? IMO Trump's reckless disrupting everything he lays his hands on caused people to react in unpredictable ways and released that virus or acted fully knowingly negligently.
 __ Google this:  How science finally caught up with Trump's playbook – with millions of lives at stake
I will Carl lover... sent a dozen donations. Thou never seemed any type civil or military service, have you?! Just one of the self serving I presume?
'..saying he might take the medicine himself and encouraging others with doctor approval to do the same..' __ The last time he promoted a drug on March 24, the medical advisors strongly opposed Trump's claims, but a middle-aged couple took the potion that Trump hyped and the woman's huz died and the wife came on the news to say she wants all ppl to distrust what Trump says. Google this phrase:  Arizona man dies after attempting to take Trump coronavirus 'cure'
Back to your comics pal. Reason is the drug MAY be preventative, GILD drug Remdesivir is about to be an "approved" drug that HAS gone thru phase three trials. Any day now- People er, you and your kind like to point ay a line in a paragraph, paraphrase and make up, add, then pt a marxist twist on it - Speak for your own country, we'll figure what to do here -
hey genius, How is it that this is a phase three drug when phase three drugs take 1-4years of testing? The virus has only been around for 4months. As usual, you are just spewing uneducated propoganda.
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