President Donald Trump has returned to the White House from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center after being treated for COVID-19.
Since his return, he has appeared positive in combatting the coronavirus. He said in a video following his return, “Don’t let it dominate you. Don’t be afraid of it.” Additionally, when he announced his return, Trump said, “I feel better than I did 20 years ago!”
While noting the flu season is “coming up” with fall and winter approaching, Trump pondered if the U.S. would shut down due to people dying from the flu,” to which he said, “No.”
“We have learned to live with it, just like we are learning to live with Covid, in most populations far less lethal!!!” Trump tweeted Monday morning.
From October of 2019 to April of 2020, there were 39 million to 56 million flu illnesses and 24,000 to 62,000 deaths due to the flu, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
There are over 210,000 deaths due to COVID-19 in the U.S. with more than 7.4 million reported cases, as of Tuesday morning.
Flu season is coming up! Many people every year, sometimes over 100,000, and despite the Vaccine, die from the Flu. Are we going to close down our Country? No, we have learned to live with it, just like we are learning to live with Covid, in most populations far less lethal!!!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 6, 2020
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, previously said he gets the flu shot “towards the middle and end of October.”
He, among other health officials, has urged Americans to get the flu shot as the coronavirus pandemic is also in the picture this year.
“Everybody, 6 months of age or older, should get an annual flu vaccine,” Fauci said during the annual Influenza/Pneumococcal Disease news conference on Oct. 1.
Though Trump has seemed positive days after he announced shortly before 1 a.m. on Friday that he and the first lady had tested positive for coronavirus, a White House physician says Trump is “not entirely out of the woods yet.”
“Over the past 24 hours, the president has continued to improve. He’s met or exceeded all standard hospital discharge criteria,” White House Physician Dr. Sean Conley said on Monday.
Conley also said, “Though he may not entirely out of the woods yet, the team and I agree that all our evaluations and most importantly his clinical status support the president’s safe return home, where he’ll be surrounded by world-class medical care 24/7.”