While President Donald Trump has made it clear he defeated COVID-19, Dr. Anthony Fauci is suggesting there could be a reversal of his condition.
MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell noted on Thursday Trump said he is “cured” and the disease “went away.”
He also claimed he has antibodies, he could be immune, and Regeneron is a cure.
“I think, Andrea, if we take one by one the statements you made, I mean obviously I could only give, you know, surmising about that since I have not directly been involved in the president’s care. But first of all, saying that he’s cured now, he certainly looks good and apparently feels good,” Fauci said.
He went on, “One of the issues that we all have to be aware, and his physicians are aware of this, that the history of COVID-19 is that you could look and feel like you’re doing reasonably well and after a couple of days you could have a downturn, namely have a reversal. That’s possible.”
Fauci is optimistic it will not happen but reiterated it is a possibility.
He explained the Regeneron antibody Trump received “made a significant difference in a positive way” in his recovery.
Fauci weighed in on whether he believes the antibody is a cure.
“When you have only one, we refer to it in medicine as N equals one. When you have only one, you can’t make the determination that that’s a cure,” Fauci said.
He added, “You have to do a clinical trial involving a large number of individuals compared either to a placebo or another intervention.”
In a memo on Wednesday, Trump’s physician Dr. Sean Conley said the president had not experienced COVID-19 symptoms in over 24 hours, as IJR previously reported.
Trump returned to the Oval Office just six days after he tested positive for the coronavirus, as IJR previously reported.