The state of health of Donald Trump, who announced Friday to be positive for Covid-19, remains a mystery in the United States.
Dr Sean Conley, the White House doctor, first indicated that the president is doing "very well", later qualifying that he was "not yet out of the woods" and that the team medical was "cautiously optimistic".
But several American media deliver a different story.
For example, an anonymous source told the NY Times that the President's "vital signs over the past 24 hours have been very disturbing."
These contradictory statements alarm a whole country, already largely shaken by the health crisis.
Here are our answers to five questions around this mess.
1. How did it get contaminated?
The origin of the contamination of the president is said to be an event that he himself organized in the Rose Garden of the White House.
On September 26, Donald Trump officially announced the appointment of Federal Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court of the United States in an outdoor ceremony attended by more than 150 people.
The catch is, as numerous images from the event show, attendees, led by Trump, weren't wearing masks or practicing social distancing.
Some even kissed each other.
To date, no less than 23 people have tested positive at the end of this event, including Melania, the first lady, and Bill Stepien, the director of the presidential campaign.
In the White House, concern reigns, especially as the New York Times revealed on Saturday that the machine used for rapid screening tests, Abbott's ID Now, is very unreliable when the infected person has not yet manifested symptoms.
This flaw might explain the hecatomb among the guests at the ceremony.
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2. Why was he hospitalized?
Since Friday evening, the American president has been treated at the Walter Reed military hospital, near Washington.
Officially, he "is doing very well", "has no difficulty breathing", no longer has a fever and his symptoms are "reduced" according to Sean Conley, the White House doctor who showed up. this very reassuring Saturday during a press conference.
Except that at about the same time, another source of his entourage having knowledge of his state of health considered it "very worrying" these last 24 hours.
According to the ABC channel, which quotes relatives of the president: Donald Trump had difficulty breathing and had to be put on life support before being hospitalized.
The press release released on October 2 by Donald Trump's doctor.
In a bulletin published Saturday evening, Sean Conley indicates that Donald Trump is "not yet out of the woods" but that the medical team is "cautiously optimistic".
"President Trump's condition continues to evolve well, he has made substantial progress since the diagnosis," he said.
Earlier, the President of the United States had posted a video indicating that he was "much better" and would be "back soon", while indicating that for the "period of the next few days, I suppose it is is that the real test, so we'll see what happens ”.
pic.twitter.com/gvIPuYtTZG
- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 3, 2020
What is certain is that the Head of State has “co-morbidities” and is one of the vulnerable populations likely to develop a severe form of Covid-19 conventionally leading to hospitalization.
His age (74 years), his overweight (110 kg) multiplying, among other things, the risks of hypertension and his fatigue accumulated during the presidential campaign weaken him.
"These are factors that are found in hospitalized patients in France," recalls Benjamin Davido, infectious disease specialist at Raymond-Poincaré hospital in Garches (Hauts-de-Seine).
"If he is hospitalized, it is because he does not feel well," he continues.
According to him, his treatment with synthetic antibodies and an antiviral is also a sign.
“I don't know a lot of patients who have dual treatment and are doing well.
There they took out the heavy artillery.
By hospitalizing him, we multiply the chances of curing him quickly.
We can intervene before things get tough, before the famous cytokine storm, ”he says.
Sean Conley, Donald Trump's doctor, assured him that the latter was not on oxygen on Saturday morning but he remained elusive when journalists wanted to know if he had been administered any earlier.
To the question "why is he hospitalized?"
", He put forward his status rather than his state of health:" Because he is the president!
"
3. Where is he treated?
While hospitalized at the Walter Reed Military Medical Center, near Washington, Donald Trump entered an establishment which is somewhat the equivalent of Val-de-Grâce in France.
Over the years, numerous presidential visits have been made there to ensure that the country's Commander in Chief is in good health.
President Lyndon Johnson had his gallbladder removed there in 1965. Ronald Reagan had operations there for colon and skin cancer in the 1980s. And in 1963, the Secret Service demanded that Kennedy's body be autopsied there.
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4. What is his treatment?
In the prescriptions issued by his doctor and made public, we learn that the Head of State was injected with a "single" dose of 8 g - the highest dosage - of an experimental cocktail based on synthetic antibodies. made by Regeneron, a biotech company across the Atlantic that has received $ 600 million (512 million euros) from the government to develop this treatment.
"This must prevent interactions of the virus with cells and therefore block their infection", decrypts immunologist Morgane Bomsel, director of research at the Institut Cochin in Paris.
Only here, this treatment is still in the trial phase.
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Data on its effects remain limited, although they seem promising.
The first tests on 275 patients would have, in fact, reduced the amount of virus present in infected people and accelerated their recovery.
According to Morgane Bomsel, there is, in principle, no toxic risk.
"The only danger is that nothing happens," she explains, recalling that "nothing has been demonstrated" for the time being.
Trump is also on the antiviral Remdesivir designed by an American laboratory initially to treat Ebola.
"It must prevent the multiplication of the virus," describes the specialist.
But it did not give "consistent results in all studies".
“Overall, with a little hindsight, we cannot say that it is very effective,” she summarizes.
Finally, the tenant of the White House was prescribed zinc, vitamin D and famotidine intended to "strengthen his immune system", as well as melatonin.
"This removes the virus receptor which, then, cannot enter a cell and therefore infect it", explains the expert.
No hydroxychloroquine, however.
The drug against malaria dear to Marseille professor Didier Raoult had yet been acclaimed by the American head of state, who had even swallowed it as a preventive measure in May.
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5. How is Melania?
The coronavirus also infected Melania, the president's wife, while sparing their 14-year-old son Barron.
The first lady is confined to the White House, but has not been hospitalized, not having the same risk factors as her husband.