Dr. Qanta Ahmed, a pulmonologist who is treating COVID-19 patients, weighs in.
This is an unofficial transcript meant for reference. Accuracy is not guaranteed.
You forget how many leaders have
been affected in different ways
lets bring in pulmonologist Nyu
Langone and been on before
Dr Ahmed. We are seeing again
the president doesnt have any
symptoms,
little bit fatigued and mild
symptoms.
Does that show you? This virus is
changing at all
Brian. We have known all
along this virus has
manifestations where people are
asymptomatic
with the president of the United
States. First of all, we wish him
really a full recovery
godspeed. The whole country is
for our president to be fully
recovered.
You can guarantee the discussion
in the White House will be the
remdesivir which MARC Siegel
Sealing mentioned,
Brian, even with wild symptoms.
This is the president.
The goal is to bring him to pcr
negative as soon as possible,
not just for the confidence of
the country, but the less viral
burden on the patient, the better
they are going to do.
Remdesivir shortens that, but
also controversially, convalesce
sent plasma is probably be
considered in our put,
it has been shown to reduce and
bring people to PCR negative
within seventy two hours.
Now we also must be mindful and
of course, Prime Minister
Johnsons case. I was watching
that in London
im also British,
when a president contracts an
infection, it has different
outcome than the average
patient.
Our president is
constitutionally incredibly
strong.
He operates more like a
45 year old than a 74 year old.
In terms of his stamina.
He has no underlying
co morbidities.
He will naturally resolve this
quickly.
That would be enormous focus on
his advisors in terms of his
position today
he may even have received some
of those agents last night.
I also think God forbid, when
Prime Minister Johnson went to
the intensive care unit at
St Marys Hospital in London.
He we treat world leaders
slightly different than the
every man, because the stakes are
so high,
so we must not panic if the
president is going to be moved
to an area of higher monitoring,
whether it be inpatient setting
or intensive care setting does
not necessarily mean. Is he
critically ill,
but we do know he will get the
very best medicine
he is being aggressively tested
every day
his infection will be detected
much faster than any of my
patients.
He have access to the widest
medication.
The problem is: will people are
very able to transmit infection
while asymptomatic?
The president has to be around
the advisors around his
cabinet?
So it would be very important to
bring him down to having no
viral as quickly as possible.
That will benefit his outcome
too.
Im very confident
I have had many patients in
their 70s result. The
infections at home
didnt know it until they found
antibodies.
I dont think we should be
overly focused about the
presidents Age
Steve. I was going to ask you if
you have had any patients who
had similar profiles same
weight same age, so
co, morbidities and you know
every patient is different, but
just curious about the outcome.
Steve. The answer is yeah.
Now, as you remember, I was in
the intensive care unit at the
beginning of the pandemic.
Treating gravely ill people
did. I thought treat people like
the president,
but since then im seeing
patients come into my office for
other reasons, exactly the same
age,
exactly the same body, weight,
less stamina, less of a
constitutional strength than the
president has
any of us that have been in
contact with the president and
his events in the past know. He
has amazing, drive
amazing energy
and they have resolved the
infection without this kind of
close supervision,
and I think for the presidents,
physicians, their main concern
is going to be. Do we throw many
things that we have at him
because they may contain some
risk. For instance, convalescent
plasma can have an allergic
reaction to that like getting a
blood transfusion,
the stakes are so high and it
will be phenomenal.
He will be quarantined for ten
days, not fourteen days
he will be PCR tested every day
and if they can shorten that
thats a tremendous boost to the
country to the markets, as Stu
Varney said, but also to the
president, because he needs to be
on the move.
I would not be shocked if he
also gets on camera speaks with
us on video.
That could all be done with
people around him in personal
protective equipment and he can
connect with the country dry
remotely, just as we are doing
now with each other
Ainsley. So if he is
asymptomatic, when he tests
positive, what are the chances
he will remain asymptomatic?
I dont know the exact
numbers,
but they are fairly high.
Many patients have infection and
are completely unaware of it.
If he had not been the president
of the United States, if he had
been a private person, he may
have been unaware of his
infection, gone about his
business and discovered
antibodies. Several months later,
we see that so commonly,
I think, also critically, the
patient doors not have the major
co morbidities that we are very
worried about.
He does not have organ failure.
He does not have diabetes. He is
not on Immunosuppress isnt, as
he has even had the benefit of
plaque Quinel early on which may
have conferred him some
protection.
I wouldnt exclude that either
plaque Crennel in some studies
has shown the virus to enter
into red blood cells.
It has been unfairly vilified.
The virus the president has now
is not the same: the virus my
patients had here in New York
City in March and April.
It is a different beast.
We are seeing that all around
the country,
even those Americans that become
hospitalized at every age group,
are not showing the severity of
illness that we saw. The other
thing that would be happening to
the president may have happened.
Last night already is CT scans
of the chest to look to see if
there are any feathery shadows
to the show that the virus is
having activities in the lungs
which can show up very early.
That may also buy
decision, making
im extremely confident. The
president will resolve this, and
in a few days we will be talking
about his pcr test coming back
negative
and we will see the convalesce
sent plasma being a center of
that discussion
Brian. Lastly, Dr Qhanta, if
you look at the numbers, cases
are up eight percent around the country.
Sixteen percent around the country deaths
are down significantly too
around the country.
Does that show we are getting
better at treating had, or does
that show that this is changing?
I think its both,
I think we have so much more
than we did in March.
I think the character of the
virus has changed.
Remember you and I went through
this in New York City.
Nowhere else in the world had
the manifestation of coronavirus
that we had in New York with the
highest number of deaths, a
million population in the world.
Truly
numbers from China cannot be
relied upon. So perhaps it was
worse, but we dont seem to think
so
so number one we are getting
better at treating it
number two. It is changing in
virulence.
It is not as God awful as it was
here in March and April.
The presidents story or
presidents course is going to
be different than that of Prime
Minister Boris Johnson, who got
it early on in the pandemic
number two. The United States has
expanded its public health
security.
Hospitals are standing by
waiting with intensive care unit
beds, as our facility at Nyu is.
We are absolutely prepared.
Should there be a surge
we are not yet seeing it,
there will be more cases in the
community.
People will resolve them.
They there will be outbreaks,
people will resolve them.
We are not going to seat same
very important
decision makers, policy makers,
Congress, men, world leaders, we
keep calm,
we must be absolutely
optimistic.
The president is robust and the
virus has a formidable foe in
the presidents constitution,
but I am hoping if I was in the
room with his physicians, I would
be arguing for the use of both
those drugs as of last night in
order to give him the best
possible chance of eliminating
the virus from the body and
becoming pcr negative.
That is not how I would treat
anyone that would come into my
office because they are into not
leader of the free world
thats. What makes the cases
Brian cases up nationally? Eight percent
deaths are down. Sixteen percent.
Transcript generated on 2020-10-17.