President Donald Trump on Tuesday met with Americans who contracted the CCP virus but ultimately recovered, including a state representative who has credited the president with saving her life.
Trump invited the recovered patients to the White House in Washington and met with them in the early afternoon.
The Americans contracted the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, commonly known as novel coronavirus or the Wuhan virus, before getting better. While COVID-19, the disease the virus causes, kills a small percentage of patients, most get better at home through rest and symptom treatment.
Democratic Michigan state Rep. Karen Whitsett was among the patients who met with Trump. She said that earlier this month she took hydroxychloroquine after testing positive for COVID-19 and almost immediately began experiencing relief from symptoms that included swollen lymph nodes and shortness of breath.
Whitsett credited Trump because he has repeatedly touted the drug during CCP virus press briefings.
2 Received Hydroxychloroquine
Speaking to the president, reporters, administration officials, and others at the White House on Tuesday, Whitsett said her condition “went from zero to 100” after being “afraid for [her] life.”
“So you thought you were going to die?” Trump wondered.
“I thought I was going to die,” she answered.
The president later told Whitsett he would link her with the White House physician to discuss her pre-existing Lyme Disease, an illness caused by ticks.
Mark Campbell, a Michigan resident who used to play football professionally, said he had a high fever and was receiving care at the hospital before he was prescribed hydroxychloroquine. “I just said the malaria drug, ”Campbell said he told doctors, and they prescribed the drug.
Trump suggested people should take the drug, which is approved for emergency use for COVID-19 patients and traditionally used to combat malaria, lupus, and other ailments.
“What have you got to lose? I actually haven’t heard a bad story,” he said. “The word is out the people get it.”
He then pointed to reporters and added, “These people don’t get it.”
Others
Carl Goldman, who was on the Diamond Princess cruise ship, told those assembled about the experience he went through on the ship.
“It was like we were on a floating petri dish,” he said.
The Carnival Corporation-owned ship docked in Yokohama, Japan, in February and was placed under quarantine after officials learned of a passenger who disembarked in Hong Kong and tested positive for the CCP virus.
Goldman’s wife, Jeri, was with him on the voyage.
Rachel Mangan of Hot Springs, Arkansas, told the president that it took her over a month to recover from the CCP virus. When Trump asked if she now feels 100 percent better, she pegged her current condition as 85 percent of what it was before. “Stay away,” Trump joked. “Keep her away.”
Another recovered patient, Darshin Patel of California, said he had a tough time with the disease.
“I never felt this bad before,” Patel said.
Vice President Mike Pence thanked the survivors for sharing their stories, telling them: “It truly gives hope to families.”
From The Epoch Times