🕷️ Crawler Inspector

URL Lookup

Direct Parameter Lookup

Raw Queries and Responses

1. Shard Calculation

Query:

Response:

Calculated Shard: 99 (from laksa107)

2. Crawled Status Check

Query:

curl -X POST \
  'http://laksa099.int.ahrefs:8124/' \
  -H 'Content-Type: text/plain' \
  -H 'X-ClickHouse-Database: crawler3' \
  -H 'Authorization: Basic YXBpOg==' \
  -d 'SELECT getAhrefsURLFromUnparsed(src_unparsed) AS found_url, ifNull(toUnixTimestamp(download_stamp), 0) AS crawl_time, ifNull(toUnixTimestamp(props_url_first_seen), 0) AS first_indexed_time, download_http_code AS http_code, src_unparsed AS src_unparsed, src_root_hash AS src_root_hash, history_drop_reason AS history_drop_reason, meta_title AS meta_title, meta_descriptions AS meta_descriptions, attrs_boilerpipe_text AS attrs_boilerpipe_text, attrs_markdown AS attrs_markdown, attrs_readable_markdown AS attrs_readable_markdown, meta_canonical AS meta_canonical FROM crawler3.page_info_local FINAL PREWHERE (src_root_hash, src_unparsed) IN ((getAhrefsRootHashFromUnparsed(getAhrefsUnparsedNoserviceFromURL(\'https://www.wired.com/story/donald-trump-positive-coronavirus-covid-19/\')), getAhrefsUnparsedNoserviceFromURL(\'https://www.wired.com/story/donald-trump-positive-coronavirus-covid-19/\'))) FORMAT JSONEachRow'

Response:

{"found_url":"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/donald-trump-positive-coronavirus-covid-19\/","crawl_time":1776465225,"first_indexed_time":1601654028,"http_code":200,"src_unparsed":"com,wired!www,\/story\/donald-trump-positive-coronavirus-covid-19\/ s443","src_root_hash":"5736512710119187299","history_drop_reason":null,"meta_title":"President Donald Trump Tests Positive for Covid-19 | WIRED","meta_descriptions":["Some people get no symptoms or mild ones, and there are treatments for the severest cases. But the disease is risky for people who are older and overweight."],"attrs_boilerpipe_text":"All products featured on WIRED are independently selected by our editors. However, we may receive compensation from retailers and\/or from purchases of products through these links.\nLearn more.\nPresident Donald Trump\nannounced in a\ntweet\nlate Thursday night that he and his wife Melania have tested positive for the virus that causes Covid-19, the pandemic disease that has killed more than a million people worldwide in just nine months—and one whose severity the president has consistently downplayed.\nIt’s an extraordinary turn of events just 32 days before Election Day. White House spokespeople had, only hours before, announced that the president’s close adviser\nHope Hicks was ill with Covid-19\n. She, the president, and the first lady have had close contact with innumerable aides, family members, campaign staff, reporters, and security detail members who have accompanied the president on the trail over the last few weeks, including to\nTuesday’s\ndebate\nwith former vice president Joe Biden. As recently as this week, the president and Vice President Mike Pence were\nholding rallies\nwith\nhundreds of people\n, sometimes crowded into\nenclosed spaces\n, mostly without wearing face masks—exactly the kind of behaviors known to spread the virus.\nWIRED's Guide to How the Universe Works\nYour weekly roundup of the best stories on health care, the climate crisis, new scientific discoveries, and more.\nActual details of the president’s illness are scant; his physician Sean Conley wrote a\nmemorandum\nreleased by the White House press office saying that “the President and First Lady are both well at this time.” Melania Trump\ntweeted\n, “We are feeling good.” At a rally two weeks ago, Trump\ntold the crowd\nthat the virus “affects virtually no one.”\nNot only is that not true, but the possible consequences are much more severe for people who are older and obese. In a weird twist of luck for Trump, though, Covid-19 has been around for long enough that health care workers and scientists have begun to come up with ways to treat it. Here are the kinds of options health care workers might consider for someone like the president.\nEven though people of any age and any health status can get very sick and die from Covid-19, three of the things that make the disease most deadly are being male, old, and overweight. That’s not great for the president. Trump is 74 years old and,\nas of June\n, weighed 244 pounds. Technically that makes him mildly obese.\nAcross an entire population\n, all other things being equal, Covid-19 kills hardly anyone under 50. But over 50,\nthe numbers start to climb\n. For people older than their mid-seventies, the mortality rate for Covid-19 is\naround 4 percent\n. “Compared to an 18- to 29-year-old, someone aged 73 is about 5 times more likely to be hospitalized and about 90 times more likely to die of Covid,” says Bob Wachter, chair of the department of medicine at UC San Francisco. “Once you’re up to age 75, that death number becomes 220 times more likely to die.”\nObesity makes the numbers even worse, though no one’s really sure why. So do other chronic illnesses that often go along with age, like diabetes and\nheart conditions\n. “This has nothing to do with the president’s specific situation, just the odds in a population,” Wachter says. “But the odds of someone that age with comorbidities getting sick enough to be hospitalized are well above 10 percent, and the odds of dying are probably in the 5 to 10 percent range.”\nThe president’s physicians have\nrepeatedly reported\nthat he is healthier than even younger, lighter men. (Of course, in 2015, when Trump was a candidate, he apparently\ndictated\nhis own doctor’s letter.) Trump doesn’t smoke tobacco or drink alcohol, but he also doesn’t seem to engage in regular exercise outside golf. And other weird events have given rise to concerns and whispers that Trump’s health was in fact\nsecretly not so great\n. Occasionally, he seems to slur his words or seem unsteady at public events, as when he apparently had trouble\nnavigating down a shallow ramp\nafter a speech at the US Military Academy. And then there was the sudden and unsatisfactorily explained\nemergency trip by motorcade\nto Walter Reed Medical Center in 2019.\nMost Popular\nStill, the president will certainly get the best possible care if he starts to worsen. Mild Covid-19 symptoms get treated the same as any other viral infection—rest, liquids, anti-inflammatories like acetaminophen or ibuprofen. “It’ll be interesting to see if they try to do something more experimental,” Wachter says. “The treatments that have been demonstrated to be beneficial in patients that are sicker, it wouldn’t be shocking to think they’d be considered in this particular case.”\nIt’s not a sure thing that the president will get sick at all, of course. The White House doctor\nsaid\nthat the president will continue to perform his duties. Even so, people who end up hospitalized, needing oxygen or assisted breathing, do have some treatment options. Hydroxychloroquine likely won’t be one; for months Trump touted the preventative and curative properties of the drug, but major studies eventually found\nit didn’t help\n. Physicians might administer\nconvalescent plasma\n, basically the immunological components of the blood of recovered Covid-19 patients. It, too, hasn’t been shown definitively to help, but it has proven safe in use so far and has a history of benefits in other pandemics. An antiviral drug,\nremdesivir\n, seems to reduce the length of hospital stays, and it’s commonly administered now.\nThe only drug to have been shown, cleanly, to reduce overall mortality is a\ncorticosteroid\ncalled dexamethasone, but doctors don’t use steroids in the early phase of the disease. “Starting that early would be absolutely wrong,” Wachter says. Steroids suppress the immune system, and “if you’re mucking around with your body’s effort to mount an immune response early in an infection, that’s a bad thing to do.” But severe Covid-19 can involve a second phase in which a person’s immune system gets overactive and starts to damage the body. That’s where steroids have helped.\nOne possible therapy that hasn’t been completely tested yet but shows enough promise that a president’s doctors might consider it is the use\nmonoclonal antibodies\n. These are engineered proteins designed to specifically prevent SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, from attaching to and entering a person’s cells. At least\ntwo\ncompanies\nhave monoclonal antibodies, or mAbs, in phase 3 clinical trials, and early results at least hint at safety and maybe even efficacy. If the situation was dire enough and the patient was getting all possible care, it’s possible to imagine doctors using the experimental therapy as a Hail Mary. “I have to assume that they will consider that. It’s not far enough along to be approved for widespread use,” Wachter says, “but in this particular case, almost ironically, they will be looking at all the scientific evidence.”\nReally, though, the options for a person with Covid-19, whether it’s mild to severe, don’t vary much whether that person is a president or not. “It’s not like there’s a magic treatment where we unlock the box and give it to him,” Wachter says. “The magic treatments are the ones where we don’t know if they work.” The hope, of course, is that neither the president nor his wife will need magic, or even science—that simple rest and care will see them through.\nMore From WIRED on Covid-19\n📩 Want the latest on tech, science, and more?\nSign up for our newsletters\n!\nIf you've just had Covid,\nexercise might not be good for you\nColds nearly vanished under lockdown.\nNow they’re coming back\nCovid-19 vaccines could end up\nwith bias built right in\nWhat teaching online classes\ntaught me about remote learning\nHey students! Here's how to\ndeal with school in a pandemic\nRead all of\nour coronavirus coverage here","attrs_markdown":"[Skip to main content](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/donald-trump-positive-coronavirus-covid-19\/#main-content)\n\n[SECURITY](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/category\/security\/)\n\n[POLITICS](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/category\/politics\/)\n\n[THE BIG STORY](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/category\/big-story\/)\n\n[BUSINESS](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/category\/business\/)\n\n[SCIENCE](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/category\/science\/)\n\n[CULTURE](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/category\/culture\/)\n\n[REVIEWS](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/category\/gear\/)\n\n[SUBSCRIBE](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/v2\/offers\/wira01035?source=Site_0_JNY_WIR_DESKTOP_NAV_CTA_0_US_ACQ_NLI_CONTROL_GENERIC_ZZ)\n\n[Newsletters](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/newsletter?sourceCode=hamburgernav)\n\n[SUBSCRIBE](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/v2\/offers\/wira01035?source=Site_0_JNY_WIR_DESKTOP_NAV_CTA_0_US_ACQ_NLI_CONTROL_GENERIC_ZZ)\n\n[Security](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/category\/security\/)\n\n[Politics](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/category\/politics\/)\n\n[The Big Story](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/category\/big-story\/)\n\n[Business](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/category\/business\/)\n\n[Science](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/category\/science\/)\n\n[Culture](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/category\/culture\/)\n\n[Reviews](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/category\/gear\/)\n\nMore\n\n[The Big Interview](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/the-big-interview\/)[Magazine](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/magazine\/)[Events](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/tag\/wired-events\/)[WIRED Insider](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/collection\/wiredinsider\/)[WIRED Consulting](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/tag\/wired-consulting\/)\n\n[Newsletters](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/newsletter?sourceCode=hamburgernav)\n\n[Podcasts](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/podcasts\/)\n\n[Video](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/video\/)\n\n[Livestreams](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/livestreams)\n\n[Merch](https:\/\/shop.wired.com\/)\n\n[Search](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/search\/)\n\n[Sign In](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/auth\/initiate?redirectURL=%2Fstory%2Fdonald-trump-positive-coronavirus-covid-19%2F&source=VERSO_NAVIGATION)\n\n[START FREE TRIAL](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/v2\/offers\/wira01035?source=Site_0_JNY_WIR_DESKTOP_NAV_DRAWER_0_US_ACQ_NLI_CONTROL_GENERIC_ZZ)\n\n[![ZOOM IN \\<br\\> Subscribe today for only \\<del\\>\\$4\\<\/del\\> \\<strong\\>\\$2\/month\\<\/strong\\> and get access to exclusive benefits including \\<strong\\>5 all-new premium newsletters.\\<\/strong\\> CTA:SUBSCRIBE](https:\/\/assets.bonappetit.com\/photos\/686ea38fcb59aaabef7a795d\/original\/pass\/Wired_Zoom_Rollover_300x200_v2a_Shorter.gif?format=original)](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/v2\/offers\/wira01035?source=Site_0_JNY_WIR_NAV_ROLLOVER_0_US_ACQ_NLI_CONTROL_GENERIC_ZZ)\n\n[Sign In](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/auth\/initiate?redirectURL=%2Fstory%2Fdonald-trump-positive-coronavirus-covid-19%2F&source=VERSO_NAVIGATION)\n\nThe intersection of technology, power, and culture. Start your free trial and get access to **5 all-new premium newsletters.** [START FREE TRIAL](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/v2\/offers\/wira01035?source=Site_0_JNY_WIR_DESKTOP_PAYWALL_THIN_0_US_ACQ_NLI_CONTROL_GENERIC_ZZ)\n\n[Adam Rogers](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/contributor\/adam-rogers\/)\n\n[Science](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/category\/science)\n\nOct 2, 2020 7:01 AM\n# President Donald Trump Tests Positive for Covid-19\n\nSome people get no symptoms or mild ones, and there are treatments for the severest cases. But the disease is risky for people who are older and overweight.\n\n![donald trump against debate background](https:\/\/media.wired.com\/photos\/5f77147919391184c2b195d5\/3:2\/w_2560%2Cc_limit\/science_trump_1228794973.jpg)\n\nPhotograph: Saul Loeb\/AFP\/Getty Images\n\nSave this story\n\nSave this story\n\nAll products featured on WIRED are independently selected by our editors. However, we may receive compensation from retailers and\/or from purchases of products through these links. [Learn more.](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/about\/affiliate-link-policy\/)\n\nPresident Donald Trump announced in a [tweet](https:\/\/twitter.com\/realDonaldTrump\/status\/1311892190680014849) late Thursday night that he and his wife Melania have tested positive for the virus that causes Covid-19, the pandemic disease that has killed more than a million people worldwide in just nine months—and one whose severity the president has consistently downplayed.\n\nIt’s an extraordinary turn of events just 32 days before Election Day. White House spokespeople had, only hours before, announced that the president’s close adviser [Hope Hicks was ill with Covid-19](https:\/\/abcnews.go.com\/Politics\/hope-hicks-president-trumps-closest-advisers-tests-positive\/story?id=73377363). She, the president, and the first lady have had close contact with innumerable aides, family members, campaign staff, reporters, and security detail members who have accompanied the president on the trail over the last few weeks, including to [Tuesday’s](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/trump-biden-debate-recap-twitter-politics-metaverse\/) [debate](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/the-debate-was-a-disaster-but-hey-climate-change-came-up\/) with former vice president Joe Biden. As recently as this week, the president and Vice President Mike Pence were [holding rallies](https:\/\/www.startribune.com\/trump-is-back-in-minnesota-to-raise-money-and-rally-supporters\/572591282\/) with [hundreds of people](https:\/\/www.post-gazette.com\/news\/politics-nation\/2020\/09\/17\/Trump-rally-Pittsburgh-International-Airport-Moon-Sept-22-presidential-campaign\/stories\/202009170183), sometimes crowded into [enclosed spaces](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/09\/14\/us\/politics\/trump-nevada-rally.html), mostly without wearing face masks—exactly the kind of behaviors known to spread the virus.\n\n### WIRED's Guide to How the Universe Works\nYour weekly roundup of the best stories on health care, the climate crisis, new scientific discoveries, and more.\n\nActual details of the president’s illness are scant; his physician Sean Conley wrote a [memorandum](https:\/\/pbs.twimg.com\/media\/EjTLifSVoAAXSnj.jpg) released by the White House press office saying that “the President and First Lady are both well at this time.” Melania Trump [tweeted](https:\/\/twitter.com\/FLOTUS\/status\/1311900591174680581), “We are feeling good.” At a rally two weeks ago, Trump [told the crowd](https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/covid-it-affects-virutally-nobody-trump-coronavirus-rally\/) that the virus “affects virtually no one.”\n\nTrending Now\n\n[WIRED25 2020: Audrey Tang on How Taiwan Coded Its Way Out of a Pandemic](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/video\/watch\/wired25-2020-audrey-tang-taiwan-covid-19-pandemic)\n\nNot only is that not true, but the possible consequences are much more severe for people who are older and obese. In a weird twist of luck for Trump, though, Covid-19 has been around for long enough that health care workers and scientists have begun to come up with ways to treat it. Here are the kinds of options health care workers might consider for someone like the president.\n\nEven though people of any age and any health status can get very sick and die from Covid-19, three of the things that make the disease most deadly are being male, old, and overweight. That’s not great for the president. Trump is 74 years old and, [as of June](https:\/\/abcnews.go.com\/Politics\/white-house-releases-results-trumps-annual-physical-president\/story?id=71049289), weighed 244 pounds. Technically that makes him mildly obese. [Across an entire population](https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/d41586-020-02483-2), all other things being equal, Covid-19 kills hardly anyone under 50. But over 50, [the numbers start to climb](https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/coronavirus\/2019-ncov\/covid-data\/investigations-discovery\/hospitalization-death-by-age.html). For people older than their mid-seventies, the mortality rate for Covid-19 is [around 4 percent](https:\/\/www.medrxiv.org\/content\/10.1101\/2020.07.23.20160895v5). “Compared to an 18- to 29-year-old, someone aged 73 is about 5 times more likely to be hospitalized and about 90 times more likely to die of Covid,” says Bob Wachter, chair of the department of medicine at UC San Francisco. “Once you’re up to age 75, that death number becomes 220 times more likely to die.”\n\nObesity makes the numbers even worse, though no one’s really sure why. So do other chronic illnesses that often go along with age, like diabetes and [heart conditions](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/if-youve-just-had-covid-exercise-might-not-be-good-for-you\/). “This has nothing to do with the president’s specific situation, just the odds in a population,” Wachter says. “But the odds of someone that age with comorbidities getting sick enough to be hospitalized are well above 10 percent, and the odds of dying are probably in the 5 to 10 percent range.”\n\nThe president’s physicians have [repeatedly reported](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/trump-physical-exam\/) that he is healthier than even younger, lighter men. (Of course, in 2015, when Trump was a candidate, he apparently [dictated](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-us-canada-43970908) his own doctor’s letter.) Trump doesn’t smoke tobacco or drink alcohol, but he also doesn’t seem to engage in regular exercise outside golf. And other weird events have given rise to concerns and whispers that Trump’s health was in fact [secretly not so great](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/no-you-dont-need-to-see-president-trumps-medical-records\/). Occasionally, he seems to slur his words or seem unsteady at public events, as when he apparently had trouble [navigating down a shallow ramp](https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/video\/politics\/trump-walks-slowly-down-ramp-after-west-point-commencement-speech\/2020\/06\/14\/b1037ca0-b2a1-4c31-9fca-e8c9ed8d4cf7_video.html) after a speech at the US Military Academy. And then there was the sudden and unsatisfactorily explained [emergency trip by motorcade](https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/politics\/trumps-health-under-scrutiny-again-after-unplanned-visit-to-walter-reed\/2019\/11\/18\/f83c91a4-0a26-11ea-97ac-a7ccc8dd1ebc_story.html) to Walter Reed Medical Center in 2019.\n\nMost Popular\n\n- [![The Fanfare Around the Band Geese Actually Was a Psyop](https:\/\/media.wired.com\/photos\/69d7c981444a1a70ce52eb20\/1:1\/w_120%2Ch_120%2Cc_limit\/undefined)](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/geese-chaotic-good-marketing-industry-plant\/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_93859dfa-4703-4617-a9d3-2e792df855ec_popular4-2)\n  \n  Music\n  \n  [The Fanfare Around the Band Geese Actually Was a Psyop](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/geese-chaotic-good-marketing-industry-plant\/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_93859dfa-4703-4617-a9d3-2e792df855ec_popular4-2)\n  \n  By John Semley\n- [![The Star Trek Communicator Is Now a High-End Wristwatch](https:\/\/media.wired.com\/photos\/69dfc0c83380b4dafad85cb5\/1:1\/w_120%2Ch_120%2Cc_limit\/undefined)](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/the-star-trek-communicator-is-now-a-high-end-wristwatch\/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_93859dfa-4703-4617-a9d3-2e792df855ec_popular4-2)\n  \n  Gear\n  \n  [The Star Trek Communicator Is Now a High-End Wristwatch](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/the-star-trek-communicator-is-now-a-high-end-wristwatch\/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_93859dfa-4703-4617-a9d3-2e792df855ec_popular4-2)\n  \n  By Jeremy White\n- [![Where the DOGE Operatives Are Now](https:\/\/media.wired.com\/photos\/69dffe96100f73b2d7f78ec6\/1:1\/w_120%2Ch_120%2Cc_limit\/undefined)](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/where-the-doge-operatives-are-now\/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_93859dfa-4703-4617-a9d3-2e792df855ec_popular4-2)\n  \n  Politics\n  \n  [Where the DOGE Operatives Are Now](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/where-the-doge-operatives-are-now\/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_93859dfa-4703-4617-a9d3-2e792df855ec_popular4-2)\n  \n  By Vittoria Elliott\n- [![The Last Airbender Leaked Online. Some Fans Say Paramount Deserves the Fallout](https:\/\/media.wired.com\/photos\/69decbf74d898774bc720f4f\/1:1\/w_120%2Ch_120%2Cc_limit\/undefined)](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/the-last-airbender-leak-fans-say-paramount-deserves-fallout\/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_93859dfa-4703-4617-a9d3-2e792df855ec_popular4-2)\n  \n  Culture\n  \n  [*The Last Airbender* Leaked Online. Some Fans Say Paramount Deserves the Fallout](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/the-last-airbender-leak-fans-say-paramount-deserves-fallout\/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_93859dfa-4703-4617-a9d3-2e792df855ec_popular4-2)\n  \n  By Miles Klee\n\nStill, the president will certainly get the best possible care if he starts to worsen. Mild Covid-19 symptoms get treated the same as any other viral infection—rest, liquids, anti-inflammatories like acetaminophen or ibuprofen. “It’ll be interesting to see if they try to do something more experimental,” Wachter says. “The treatments that have been demonstrated to be beneficial in patients that are sicker, it wouldn’t be shocking to think they’d be considered in this particular case.”\n\nIt’s not a sure thing that the president will get sick at all, of course. The White House doctor [said](https:\/\/hosted.ap.org\/delrionewsherald\/article\/f8465b2cbb2accdba626eef585bb36e5\/white-house-doctor-trump-continue-carrying-out-duties) that the president will continue to perform his duties. Even so, people who end up hospitalized, needing oxygen or assisted breathing, do have some treatment options. Hydroxychloroquine likely won’t be one; for months Trump touted the preventative and curative properties of the drug, but major studies eventually found [it didn’t help](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/hydroxychloroquine-still-doesnt-do-anything-new-data-shows\/). Physicians might administer [convalescent plasma](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/97000-people-got-convalescent-plasma-who-knows-if-it-works\/), basically the immunological components of the blood of recovered Covid-19 patients. It, too, hasn’t been shown definitively to help, but it has proven safe in use so far and has a history of benefits in other pandemics. An antiviral drug, [remdesivir](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/what-does-it-mean-to-say-a-new-drug-works\/), seems to reduce the length of hospital stays, and it’s commonly administered now.\n\nThe only drug to have been shown, cleanly, to reduce overall mortality is a [corticosteroid](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/dexamethasone-and-the-recovery-trials-high-speed-science\/) called dexamethasone, but doctors don’t use steroids in the early phase of the disease. “Starting that early would be absolutely wrong,” Wachter says. Steroids suppress the immune system, and “if you’re mucking around with your body’s effort to mount an immune response early in an infection, that’s a bad thing to do.” But severe Covid-19 can involve a second phase in which a person’s immune system gets overactive and starts to damage the body. That’s where steroids have helped.\n\nOne possible therapy that hasn’t been completely tested yet but shows enough promise that a president’s doctors might consider it is the use [monoclonal antibodies](http:\/\/europepmc.org\/article\/PMC\/5613179). These are engineered proteins designed to specifically prevent SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, from attaching to and entering a person’s cells. At least [two](https:\/\/investor.regeneron.com\/news-releases\/news-release-details\/regenerons-regn-cov2-antibody-cocktail-reduced-viral-levels-and) [companies](https:\/\/www.nih.gov\/news-events\/news-releases\/clinical-trials-monoclonal-antibodies-prevent-covid-19-now-enrolling) have monoclonal antibodies, or mAbs, in phase 3 clinical trials, and early results at least hint at safety and maybe even efficacy. If the situation was dire enough and the patient was getting all possible care, it’s possible to imagine doctors using the experimental therapy as a Hail Mary. “I have to assume that they will consider that. It’s not far enough along to be approved for widespread use,” Wachter says, “but in this particular case, almost ironically, they will be looking at all the scientific evidence.”\n\nReally, though, the options for a person with Covid-19, whether it’s mild to severe, don’t vary much whether that person is a president or not. “It’s not like there’s a magic treatment where we unlock the box and give it to him,” Wachter says. “The magic treatments are the ones where we don’t know if they work.” The hope, of course, is that neither the president nor his wife will need magic, or even science—that simple rest and care will see them through.\n***\nMore From WIRED on Covid-19\n\n- 📩 Want the latest on tech, science, and more? [Sign up for our newsletters](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/newsletter?sourceCode=BottomStories)\\!\n- If you've just had Covid, [exercise might not be good for you](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/if-youve-just-had-covid-exercise-might-not-be-good-for-you\/?itm_campaign=BottomRelatedStories_Coronavirus&itm_content=footer-recirc)\n- Colds nearly vanished under lockdown. [Now they’re coming back](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/colds-nearly-vanished-under-lockdown-now-theyre-coming-back\/?itm_campaign=BottomRelatedStories_Coronavirus&itm_content=footer-recirc)\n- Covid-19 vaccines could end up [with bias built right in](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/covid-19-vaccines-could-end-up-with-bias-built-right-in\/?itm_campaign=BottomRelatedStories_Coronavirus&itm_content=footer-recirc)\n- What teaching online classes [taught me about remote learning](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/teaching-online-classes-tips-lessons\/?itm_campaign=BottomRelatedStories_Coronavirus&itm_content=footer-recirc)\n- Hey students! Here's how to [deal with school in a pandemic](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/hey-students-heres-how-deal-with-school-pandemic\/?itm_campaign=BottomRelatedStories_Coronavirus&itm_content=footer-recirc)\n- Read all of [our coronavirus coverage here](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/tag\/coronavirus\/?itm_campaign=BottomRelatedStories_Coronavirus&itm_content=footer-recirc)\n\n[![](https:\/\/media.wired.com\/photos\/65e83bcec9d1003a19b298eb\/1:1\/w_90%2Cc_limit\/adam_rogers.jpg)](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/contributor\/adam-rogers\/)\n\n[Adam Rogers](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/contributor\/adam-rogers\/) writes about science and miscellaneous geekery. Before coming to WIRED, Rogers was a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT and a reporter for Newsweek. He is the author of The New York Times science bestseller Proof: The Science of Booze. ... [Read More](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/contributor\/adam-rogers)\n\nFormer Senior Correspondent\n\nTopics[COVID-19](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/tag\/covid-19\/)[coronavirus](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/tag\/coronavirus\/)[epidemiology](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/tag\/epidemiology\/)[public health](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/tag\/public-health\/)[politics](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/tag\/politics\/)[Donald Trump](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/tag\/donald-trump\/)\n\n### WIRED's Guide to How the Universe Works\nYour weekly roundup of the best stories on health care, the climate crisis, new scientific discoveries, and more.\n\nRead More\n\n[![The Ghosts of Al-Shifa Hospital](https:\/\/media.wired.com\/photos\/69c552e4fa7ad3cd5ef140f8\/16:9\/w_640%2Cc_limit\/undefined)](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/gaza-war-al-shifa-hospital-ghosts\/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_bab9d786-1bb9-44f1-8ef4-9db7815d9b1e_roberta-similarity1)\n\n[The Ghosts of Al-Shifa Hospital](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/gaza-war-al-shifa-hospital-ghosts\/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_bab9d786-1bb9-44f1-8ef4-9db7815d9b1e_roberta-similarity1)\n\nMonths into a supposed ceasefire in Gaza, doctors still have to smuggle in basic medical supplies—and treat new casualties of war.\n\nSpencer Ackerman\n\n[![No One Knows Where US Vaccine Policy Goes Next](https:\/\/media.wired.com\/photos\/69d808d3ce1f65d162ddb258\/16:9\/w_640%2Cc_limit\/undefined)](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/no-one-knows-where-us-vaccine-policy-goes-next\/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_bab9d786-1bb9-44f1-8ef4-9db7815d9b1e_roberta-similarity1)\n\n[No One Knows Where US Vaccine Policy Goes Next](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/no-one-knows-where-us-vaccine-policy-goes-next\/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_bab9d786-1bb9-44f1-8ef4-9db7815d9b1e_roberta-similarity1)\n\nRobert F. Kennedy Jr.’s sweeping changes to federal vaccine guidance are paused for now. But even if they’re reversed, lasting damage has already been done.\n\nEmily Mullin\n\n[![Don’t Listen to Anyone Who Thinks Secession Will Solve Anything](https:\/\/media.wired.com\/photos\/69b97dfad8d631c623d3318b\/16:9\/w_640%2Cc_limit\/undefined)](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/dont-listen-anyone-who-thinks-secession-will-solve-anything\/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_bab9d786-1bb9-44f1-8ef4-9db7815d9b1e_roberta-similarity1)\n\n[Don’t Listen to Anyone Who Thinks Secession Will Solve Anything](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/dont-listen-anyone-who-thinks-secession-will-solve-anything\/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_bab9d786-1bb9-44f1-8ef4-9db7815d9b1e_roberta-similarity1)\n\nAmericans increasingly fantasize about a divorce between red and blue states—but they dread the thought of civil war. You can’t have one without the other.\n\nRyan D. Griffiths\n\n[![Hassan Took a Bike Ride. Now He’s One of the Thousands Missing in Gaza](https:\/\/media.wired.com\/photos\/69bb3e4c52ccb057f936398b\/16:9\/w_640%2Cc_limit\/undefined)](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/hassan-took-a-bike-ride-now-hes-one-of-the-thousands-missing-in-gaza\/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_bab9d786-1bb9-44f1-8ef4-9db7815d9b1e_roberta-similarity1)\n\n[Hassan Took a Bike Ride. Now He’s One of the Thousands Missing in Gaza](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/hassan-took-a-bike-ride-now-hes-one-of-the-thousands-missing-in-gaza\/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_bab9d786-1bb9-44f1-8ef4-9db7815d9b1e_roberta-similarity1)\n\nIn a place denied access to basic forensic technology—and where people disappear into Israeli detention—the fate of thousands remains unknown. One of them is an autistic teenager.\n\nMahmoud Mushtaha\n\n[![Snake Bros Keep Getting Bitten by Their Lethal Pets. Only Zoos Can Save Them](https:\/\/media.wired.com\/photos\/69cffdb3640c23d3efe3532c\/16:9\/w_640%2Cc_limit\/undefined)](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/snake-bros-antivenom-index-zoos-influencers-chris-gifford\/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_bab9d786-1bb9-44f1-8ef4-9db7815d9b1e_roberta-similarity1)\n\n[Snake Bros Keep Getting Bitten by Their Lethal Pets. Only Zoos Can Save Them](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/snake-bros-antivenom-index-zoos-influencers-chris-gifford\/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_bab9d786-1bb9-44f1-8ef4-9db7815d9b1e_roberta-similarity1)\n\nYour venomous serpent bites you, and the clock is ticking. America’s zookeepers—and a cooler full of rare antivenom—are your best chance of survival.\n\nClaire McNear\n\n[![Anduril Wants to Own the Future of War Tech. Mishaps, Delays, and Challenges Abound](https:\/\/media.wired.com\/photos\/69c2bfbc5854d831d24bbc07\/16:9\/w_640%2Cc_limit\/undefined)](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/andurils-real-war-is-with-itself\/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_bab9d786-1bb9-44f1-8ef4-9db7815d9b1e_roberta-similarity1)\n\n[Anduril Wants to Own the Future of War Tech. Mishaps, Delays, and Challenges Abound](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/andurils-real-war-is-with-itself\/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_bab9d786-1bb9-44f1-8ef4-9db7815d9b1e_roberta-similarity1)\n\nFrom drones to missiles to submarines, the \\$30.5 billion defense startup wants to transform how the tools of war are made. It’s not all going as planned.\n\nParesh Dave\n\n[![Your Body Is Betraying Your Right to Privacy](https:\/\/media.wired.com\/photos\/69c1aa958d470e1446eb5d44\/16:9\/w_640%2Cc_limit\/undefined)](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/book-excerpt-your-data-will-be-used-against-you-andrew-guthrie-ferguson\/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_bab9d786-1bb9-44f1-8ef4-9db7815d9b1e_roberta-similarity1)\n\n[Your Body Is Betraying Your Right to Privacy](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/book-excerpt-your-data-will-be-used-against-you-andrew-guthrie-ferguson\/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_bab9d786-1bb9-44f1-8ef4-9db7815d9b1e_roberta-similarity1)\n\nAttachment to smart devices and biometric surveillance leaves Americans more vulnerable to police searches than ever. Left unchecked it will only get worse.\n\nAndrew Guthrie Ferguson\n\n[![What's in Hasan Piker's Streaming Starter Pack](https:\/\/media.wired.com\/photos\/69deb76bc40d39c885aeb5d3\/16:9\/w_640%2Cc_limit\/undefined)](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/hasan-pikers-starter-pack\/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_bab9d786-1bb9-44f1-8ef4-9db7815d9b1e_roberta-similarity1)\n\n[What's in Hasan Piker's Streaming Starter Pack](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/hasan-pikers-starter-pack\/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_bab9d786-1bb9-44f1-8ef4-9db7815d9b1e_roberta-similarity1)\n\nThe internet’s most jacked leftist shares the tech and daily rituals that fuel his marathon streams.\n\nBoutayna Chokrane\n\n[![Opposing ICE Might Save the Country. It Could Also Ruin Your Life](https:\/\/media.wired.com\/photos\/69c5c6fcd03999521bd70374\/16:9\/w_640%2Cc_limit\/undefined)](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/opposing-ice-might-save-the-country-could-also-ruin-your-life\/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_bab9d786-1bb9-44f1-8ef4-9db7815d9b1e_roberta-similarity1)\n\n[Opposing ICE Might Save the Country. It Could Also Ruin Your Life](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/opposing-ice-might-save-the-country-could-also-ruin-your-life\/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_bab9d786-1bb9-44f1-8ef4-9db7815d9b1e_roberta-similarity1)\n\nFor months, lone vibe coder Rafael Concepcion has obsessively built tools to counter the federal immigration crackdown—pivoting as he’s been outmatched. He’s also lost his job and become a target.\n\nBrendan I. Koerner\n\n[![A Billionaire-Backed Startup Wants to Grow 'Organ Sacks' to Replace Animal Testing](https:\/\/media.wired.com\/photos\/69bd923f33c22df804229607\/16:9\/w_640%2Cc_limit\/undefined)](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/a-billionaire-backed-startup-wants-to-grow-organ-sacks-to-replace-animal-testing\/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_bab9d786-1bb9-44f1-8ef4-9db7815d9b1e_roberta-similarity1)\n\n[A Billionaire-Backed Startup Wants to Grow 'Organ Sacks' to Replace Animal Testing](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/a-billionaire-backed-startup-wants-to-grow-organ-sacks-to-replace-animal-testing\/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_bab9d786-1bb9-44f1-8ef4-9db7815d9b1e_roberta-similarity1)\n\nR3 Bio has a bold idea for replacing lab animals: genetically-engineered whole organ systems that lack a brain. The long-term goal, says a cofounder, is to make human versions.\n\nEmily Mullin\n\n[![MyMove Is the US Government’s Shittiest Website](https:\/\/media.wired.com\/photos\/69c44b8aa8ef1ae045a7c51c\/16:9\/w_640%2Cc_limit\/undefined)](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/the-governments-shittiest-website\/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_bab9d786-1bb9-44f1-8ef4-9db7815d9b1e_roberta-similarity1)\n\n[MyMove Is the US Government’s Shittiest Website](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/the-governments-shittiest-website\/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_bab9d786-1bb9-44f1-8ef4-9db7815d9b1e_roberta-similarity1)\n\nFor more than 30 years, the US Postal Service has sent people who need to change their addresses to MyMove. Experts say the site uses dark patterns to trap visitors in an online purgatory of “deals.”\n\nTodd Feathers\n\n[![Chris Hayes Has Some Advice for Keeping Up With the News](https:\/\/media.wired.com\/photos\/69c1b2b856888c87f24c925c\/16:9\/w_640%2Cc_limit\/undefined)](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/the-big-interview-podcast-chris-hayes\/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_bab9d786-1bb9-44f1-8ef4-9db7815d9b1e_roberta-similarity1)\n\n[Chris Hayes Has Some Advice for Keeping Up With the News](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/the-big-interview-podcast-chris-hayes\/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_bab9d786-1bb9-44f1-8ef4-9db7815d9b1e_roberta-similarity1)\n\nThe host of MS Now’s *All In,* knows how hard it is to stay current. But he also knows where you should focus your attention—and it starts with a sober view of AI.\n\nKatie Drummond\n\n[![ZOOM IN \\<br\\> Insights at the intersection of technology, power, and culture \\<br\\> Subscribe today for only \\<del\\>\\$4\\<\/del\\> \\<strong\\>\\$2\/month\\<\/strong\\> and get access to exclusive benefits including \\<strong\\>5 all-new premium newsletters.\\<\/strong\\> \\<br\\> CTA:SUBSCRIBE](https:\/\/assets.bonappetit.com\/photos\/686ea46a1d57bf34560db527\/original\/pass\/Wired_Zoom_Footer_Desktop_940x140_v2e.gif?format=original)](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/v2\/offers\/wira01035?source=Site_0_JNY_WIR_DESKTOP_FOOTER_0_US_ACQ_NLI_CONTROL_GENERIC_ZZ)\n\n[![WIRED](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/verso\/static\/wired-us\/assets\/logo-reverse.svg)](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/)\n\nWIRED is obsessed with what comes next. Through rigorous investigations and game-changing reporting, we tell stories that don’t just reflect the moment—they help create it. When you look back in 10, 20, even 50 years, WIRED will be the publication that led the story of the present, mapped the people, products, and ideas defining it, and explained how those forces forged the future. 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All rights reserved. *WIRED* may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Condé Nast. [Ad Choices](http:\/\/www.aboutads.info\/)\n\n###### Select international site\nUnited States\n\n- [Italia](https:\/\/www.wired.it\/)\n- [Japón](https:\/\/wired.jp\/)\n- [Czech Republic & Slovakia](https:\/\/www.wired.cz\/)\n\nYour Privacy Choices","attrs_readable_markdown":"All products featured on WIRED are independently selected by our editors. However, we may receive compensation from retailers and\/or from purchases of products through these links. [Learn more.](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/about\/affiliate-link-policy\/)\n\nPresident Donald Trump announced in a [tweet](https:\/\/twitter.com\/realDonaldTrump\/status\/1311892190680014849) late Thursday night that he and his wife Melania have tested positive for the virus that causes Covid-19, the pandemic disease that has killed more than a million people worldwide in just nine months—and one whose severity the president has consistently downplayed.\n\nIt’s an extraordinary turn of events just 32 days before Election Day. White House spokespeople had, only hours before, announced that the president’s close adviser [Hope Hicks was ill with Covid-19](https:\/\/abcnews.go.com\/Politics\/hope-hicks-president-trumps-closest-advisers-tests-positive\/story?id=73377363). She, the president, and the first lady have had close contact with innumerable aides, family members, campaign staff, reporters, and security detail members who have accompanied the president on the trail over the last few weeks, including to [Tuesday’s](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/trump-biden-debate-recap-twitter-politics-metaverse\/) [debate](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/the-debate-was-a-disaster-but-hey-climate-change-came-up\/) with former vice president Joe Biden. As recently as this week, the president and Vice President Mike Pence were [holding rallies](https:\/\/www.startribune.com\/trump-is-back-in-minnesota-to-raise-money-and-rally-supporters\/572591282\/) with [hundreds of people](https:\/\/www.post-gazette.com\/news\/politics-nation\/2020\/09\/17\/Trump-rally-Pittsburgh-International-Airport-Moon-Sept-22-presidential-campaign\/stories\/202009170183), sometimes crowded into [enclosed spaces](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/09\/14\/us\/politics\/trump-nevada-rally.html), mostly without wearing face masks—exactly the kind of behaviors known to spread the virus.\n\n### WIRED's Guide to How the Universe Works\nYour weekly roundup of the best stories on health care, the climate crisis, new scientific discoveries, and more.\n\nActual details of the president’s illness are scant; his physician Sean Conley wrote a [memorandum](https:\/\/pbs.twimg.com\/media\/EjTLifSVoAAXSnj.jpg) released by the White House press office saying that “the President and First Lady are both well at this time.” Melania Trump [tweeted](https:\/\/twitter.com\/FLOTUS\/status\/1311900591174680581), “We are feeling good.” At a rally two weeks ago, Trump [told the crowd](https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/covid-it-affects-virutally-nobody-trump-coronavirus-rally\/) that the virus “affects virtually no one.”\n\nNot only is that not true, but the possible consequences are much more severe for people who are older and obese. In a weird twist of luck for Trump, though, Covid-19 has been around for long enough that health care workers and scientists have begun to come up with ways to treat it. Here are the kinds of options health care workers might consider for someone like the president.\n\nEven though people of any age and any health status can get very sick and die from Covid-19, three of the things that make the disease most deadly are being male, old, and overweight. That’s not great for the president. Trump is 74 years old and, [as of June](https:\/\/abcnews.go.com\/Politics\/white-house-releases-results-trumps-annual-physical-president\/story?id=71049289), weighed 244 pounds. Technically that makes him mildly obese. [Across an entire population](https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/d41586-020-02483-2), all other things being equal, Covid-19 kills hardly anyone under 50. But over 50, [the numbers start to climb](https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/coronavirus\/2019-ncov\/covid-data\/investigations-discovery\/hospitalization-death-by-age.html). For people older than their mid-seventies, the mortality rate for Covid-19 is [around 4 percent](https:\/\/www.medrxiv.org\/content\/10.1101\/2020.07.23.20160895v5). “Compared to an 18- to 29-year-old, someone aged 73 is about 5 times more likely to be hospitalized and about 90 times more likely to die of Covid,” says Bob Wachter, chair of the department of medicine at UC San Francisco. “Once you’re up to age 75, that death number becomes 220 times more likely to die.”\n\nObesity makes the numbers even worse, though no one’s really sure why. So do other chronic illnesses that often go along with age, like diabetes and [heart conditions](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/if-youve-just-had-covid-exercise-might-not-be-good-for-you\/). “This has nothing to do with the president’s specific situation, just the odds in a population,” Wachter says. “But the odds of someone that age with comorbidities getting sick enough to be hospitalized are well above 10 percent, and the odds of dying are probably in the 5 to 10 percent range.”\n\nThe president’s physicians have [repeatedly reported](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/trump-physical-exam\/) that he is healthier than even younger, lighter men. (Of course, in 2015, when Trump was a candidate, he apparently [dictated](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-us-canada-43970908) his own doctor’s letter.) Trump doesn’t smoke tobacco or drink alcohol, but he also doesn’t seem to engage in regular exercise outside golf. And other weird events have given rise to concerns and whispers that Trump’s health was in fact [secretly not so great](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/no-you-dont-need-to-see-president-trumps-medical-records\/). Occasionally, he seems to slur his words or seem unsteady at public events, as when he apparently had trouble [navigating down a shallow ramp](https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/video\/politics\/trump-walks-slowly-down-ramp-after-west-point-commencement-speech\/2020\/06\/14\/b1037ca0-b2a1-4c31-9fca-e8c9ed8d4cf7_video.html) after a speech at the US Military Academy. And then there was the sudden and unsatisfactorily explained [emergency trip by motorcade](https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/politics\/trumps-health-under-scrutiny-again-after-unplanned-visit-to-walter-reed\/2019\/11\/18\/f83c91a4-0a26-11ea-97ac-a7ccc8dd1ebc_story.html) to Walter Reed Medical Center in 2019.\n\nMost Popular\n\nStill, the president will certainly get the best possible care if he starts to worsen. Mild Covid-19 symptoms get treated the same as any other viral infection—rest, liquids, anti-inflammatories like acetaminophen or ibuprofen. “It’ll be interesting to see if they try to do something more experimental,” Wachter says. “The treatments that have been demonstrated to be beneficial in patients that are sicker, it wouldn’t be shocking to think they’d be considered in this particular case.”\n\nIt’s not a sure thing that the president will get sick at all, of course. The White House doctor [said](https:\/\/hosted.ap.org\/delrionewsherald\/article\/f8465b2cbb2accdba626eef585bb36e5\/white-house-doctor-trump-continue-carrying-out-duties) that the president will continue to perform his duties. Even so, people who end up hospitalized, needing oxygen or assisted breathing, do have some treatment options. Hydroxychloroquine likely won’t be one; for months Trump touted the preventative and curative properties of the drug, but major studies eventually found [it didn’t help](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/hydroxychloroquine-still-doesnt-do-anything-new-data-shows\/). Physicians might administer [convalescent plasma](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/97000-people-got-convalescent-plasma-who-knows-if-it-works\/), basically the immunological components of the blood of recovered Covid-19 patients. It, too, hasn’t been shown definitively to help, but it has proven safe in use so far and has a history of benefits in other pandemics. An antiviral drug, [remdesivir](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/what-does-it-mean-to-say-a-new-drug-works\/), seems to reduce the length of hospital stays, and it’s commonly administered now.\n\nThe only drug to have been shown, cleanly, to reduce overall mortality is a [corticosteroid](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/dexamethasone-and-the-recovery-trials-high-speed-science\/) called dexamethasone, but doctors don’t use steroids in the early phase of the disease. “Starting that early would be absolutely wrong,” Wachter says. Steroids suppress the immune system, and “if you’re mucking around with your body’s effort to mount an immune response early in an infection, that’s a bad thing to do.” But severe Covid-19 can involve a second phase in which a person’s immune system gets overactive and starts to damage the body. That’s where steroids have helped.\n\nOne possible therapy that hasn’t been completely tested yet but shows enough promise that a president’s doctors might consider it is the use [monoclonal antibodies](http:\/\/europepmc.org\/article\/PMC\/5613179). These are engineered proteins designed to specifically prevent SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, from attaching to and entering a person’s cells. At least [two](https:\/\/investor.regeneron.com\/news-releases\/news-release-details\/regenerons-regn-cov2-antibody-cocktail-reduced-viral-levels-and) [companies](https:\/\/www.nih.gov\/news-events\/news-releases\/clinical-trials-monoclonal-antibodies-prevent-covid-19-now-enrolling) have monoclonal antibodies, or mAbs, in phase 3 clinical trials, and early results at least hint at safety and maybe even efficacy. If the situation was dire enough and the patient was getting all possible care, it’s possible to imagine doctors using the experimental therapy as a Hail Mary. “I have to assume that they will consider that. It’s not far enough along to be approved for widespread use,” Wachter says, “but in this particular case, almost ironically, they will be looking at all the scientific evidence.”\n\nReally, though, the options for a person with Covid-19, whether it’s mild to severe, don’t vary much whether that person is a president or not. “It’s not like there’s a magic treatment where we unlock the box and give it to him,” Wachter says. “The magic treatments are the ones where we don’t know if they work.” The hope, of course, is that neither the president nor his wife will need magic, or even science—that simple rest and care will see them through.\n***\nMore From WIRED on Covid-19\n\n- 📩 Want the latest on tech, science, and more? [Sign up for our newsletters](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/newsletter?sourceCode=BottomStories)\\!\n- If you've just had Covid, [exercise might not be good for you](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/if-youve-just-had-covid-exercise-might-not-be-good-for-you\/?itm_campaign=BottomRelatedStories_Coronavirus&itm_content=footer-recirc)\n- Colds nearly vanished under lockdown. [Now they’re coming back](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/colds-nearly-vanished-under-lockdown-now-theyre-coming-back\/?itm_campaign=BottomRelatedStories_Coronavirus&itm_content=footer-recirc)\n- Covid-19 vaccines could end up [with bias built right in](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/covid-19-vaccines-could-end-up-with-bias-built-right-in\/?itm_campaign=BottomRelatedStories_Coronavirus&itm_content=footer-recirc)\n- What teaching online classes [taught me about remote learning](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/teaching-online-classes-tips-lessons\/?itm_campaign=BottomRelatedStories_Coronavirus&itm_content=footer-recirc)\n- Hey students! Here's how to [deal with school in a pandemic](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/hey-students-heres-how-deal-with-school-pandemic\/?itm_campaign=BottomRelatedStories_Coronavirus&itm_content=footer-recirc)\n- Read all of [our coronavirus coverage here](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/tag\/coronavirus\/?itm_campaign=BottomRelatedStories_Coronavirus&itm_content=footer-recirc)","meta_canonical":null}

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Boilerpipe Text	All products featured on WIRED are independently selected by our editors. However, we may receive compensation from retailers and/or from purchases of products through these links. Learn more. President Donald Trump announced in a tweet late Thursday night that he and his wife Melania have tested positive for the virus that causes Covid-19, the pandemic disease that has killed more than a million people worldwide in just nine months—and one whose severity the president has consistently downplayed. It’s an extraordinary turn of events just 32 days before Election Day. White House spokespeople had, only hours before, announced that the president’s close adviser Hope Hicks was ill with Covid-19 . She, the president, and the first lady have had close contact with innumerable aides, family members, campaign staff, reporters, and security detail members who have accompanied the president on the trail over the last few weeks, including to Tuesday’s debate with former vice president Joe Biden. As recently as this week, the president and Vice President Mike Pence were holding rallies with hundreds of people , sometimes crowded into enclosed spaces , mostly without wearing face masks—exactly the kind of behaviors known to spread the virus. WIRED's Guide to How the Universe Works Your weekly roundup of the best stories on health care, the climate crisis, new scientific discoveries, and more. Actual details of the president’s illness are scant; his physician Sean Conley wrote a memorandum released by the White House press office saying that “the President and First Lady are both well at this time.” Melania Trump tweeted , “We are feeling good.” At a rally two weeks ago, Trump told the crowd that the virus “affects virtually no one.” Not only is that not true, but the possible consequences are much more severe for people who are older and obese. In a weird twist of luck for Trump, though, Covid-19 has been around for long enough that health care workers and scientists have begun to come up with ways to treat it. Here are the kinds of options health care workers might consider for someone like the president. Even though people of any age and any health status can get very sick and die from Covid-19, three of the things that make the disease most deadly are being male, old, and overweight. That’s not great for the president. Trump is 74 years old and, as of June , weighed 244 pounds. Technically that makes him mildly obese. Across an entire population , all other things being equal, Covid-19 kills hardly anyone under 50. But over 50, the numbers start to climb . For people older than their mid-seventies, the mortality rate for Covid-19 is around 4 percent . “Compared to an 18- to 29-year-old, someone aged 73 is about 5 times more likely to be hospitalized and about 90 times more likely to die of Covid,” says Bob Wachter, chair of the department of medicine at UC San Francisco. “Once you’re up to age 75, that death number becomes 220 times more likely to die.” Obesity makes the numbers even worse, though no one’s really sure why. So do other chronic illnesses that often go along with age, like diabetes and heart conditions . “This has nothing to do with the president’s specific situation, just the odds in a population,” Wachter says. “But the odds of someone that age with comorbidities getting sick enough to be hospitalized are well above 10 percent, and the odds of dying are probably in the 5 to 10 percent range.” The president’s physicians have repeatedly reported that he is healthier than even younger, lighter men. (Of course, in 2015, when Trump was a candidate, he apparently dictated his own doctor’s letter.) Trump doesn’t smoke tobacco or drink alcohol, but he also doesn’t seem to engage in regular exercise outside golf. And other weird events have given rise to concerns and whispers that Trump’s health was in fact secretly not so great . Occasionally, he seems to slur his words or seem unsteady at public events, as when he apparently had trouble navigating down a shallow ramp after a speech at the US Military Academy. And then there was the sudden and unsatisfactorily explained emergency trip by motorcade to Walter Reed Medical Center in 2019. Most Popular Still, the president will certainly get the best possible care if he starts to worsen. Mild Covid-19 symptoms get treated the same as any other viral infection—rest, liquids, anti-inflammatories like acetaminophen or ibuprofen. “It’ll be interesting to see if they try to do something more experimental,” Wachter says. “The treatments that have been demonstrated to be beneficial in patients that are sicker, it wouldn’t be shocking to think they’d be considered in this particular case.” It’s not a sure thing that the president will get sick at all, of course. The White House doctor said that the president will continue to perform his duties. Even so, people who end up hospitalized, needing oxygen or assisted breathing, do have some treatment options. Hydroxychloroquine likely won’t be one; for months Trump touted the preventative and curative properties of the drug, but major studies eventually found it didn’t help . Physicians might administer convalescent plasma , basically the immunological components of the blood of recovered Covid-19 patients. It, too, hasn’t been shown definitively to help, but it has proven safe in use so far and has a history of benefits in other pandemics. An antiviral drug, remdesivir , seems to reduce the length of hospital stays, and it’s commonly administered now. The only drug to have been shown, cleanly, to reduce overall mortality is a corticosteroid called dexamethasone, but doctors don’t use steroids in the early phase of the disease. “Starting that early would be absolutely wrong,” Wachter says. Steroids suppress the immune system, and “if you’re mucking around with your body’s effort to mount an immune response early in an infection, that’s a bad thing to do.” But severe Covid-19 can involve a second phase in which a person’s immune system gets overactive and starts to damage the body. That’s where steroids have helped. One possible therapy that hasn’t been completely tested yet but shows enough promise that a president’s doctors might consider it is the use monoclonal antibodies . These are engineered proteins designed to specifically prevent SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, from attaching to and entering a person’s cells. At least two companies have monoclonal antibodies, or mAbs, in phase 3 clinical trials, and early results at least hint at safety and maybe even efficacy. If the situation was dire enough and the patient was getting all possible care, it’s possible to imagine doctors using the experimental therapy as a Hail Mary. “I have to assume that they will consider that. It’s not far enough along to be approved for widespread use,” Wachter says, “but in this particular case, almost ironically, they will be looking at all the scientific evidence.” Really, though, the options for a person with Covid-19, whether it’s mild to severe, don’t vary much whether that person is a president or not. “It’s not like there’s a magic treatment where we unlock the box and give it to him,” Wachter says. “The magic treatments are the ones where we don’t know if they work.” The hope, of course, is that neither the president nor his wife will need magic, or even science—that simple rest and care will see them through. More From WIRED on Covid-19 📩 Want the latest on tech, science, and more? Sign up for our newsletters ! If you've just had Covid, exercise might not be good for you Colds nearly vanished under lockdown. Now they’re coming back Covid-19 vaccines could end up with bias built right in What teaching online classes taught me about remote learning Hey students! Here's how to deal with school in a pandemic Read all of our coronavirus coverage here
Markdown	[Skip to main content](https://www.wired.com/story/donald-trump-positive-coronavirus-covid-19/#main-content) [SECURITY](https://www.wired.com/category/security/) [POLITICS](https://www.wired.com/category/politics/) [THE BIG STORY](https://www.wired.com/category/big-story/) [BUSINESS](https://www.wired.com/category/business/) [SCIENCE](https://www.wired.com/category/science/) [CULTURE](https://www.wired.com/category/culture/) [REVIEWS](https://www.wired.com/category/gear/) [SUBSCRIBE](https://www.wired.com/v2/offers/wira01035?source=Site_0_JNY_WIR_DESKTOP_NAV_CTA_0_US_ACQ_NLI_CONTROL_GENERIC_ZZ) [Newsletters](https://www.wired.com/newsletter?sourceCode=hamburgernav) [SUBSCRIBE](https://www.wired.com/v2/offers/wira01035?source=Site_0_JNY_WIR_DESKTOP_NAV_CTA_0_US_ACQ_NLI_CONTROL_GENERIC_ZZ) [Security](https://www.wired.com/category/security/) [Politics](https://www.wired.com/category/politics/) [The Big Story](https://www.wired.com/category/big-story/) [Business](https://www.wired.com/category/business/) [Science](https://www.wired.com/category/science/) [Culture](https://www.wired.com/category/culture/) [Reviews](https://www.wired.com/category/gear/) More [The Big Interview](https://www.wired.com/the-big-interview/)[Magazine](https://www.wired.com/magazine/)[Events](https://www.wired.com/tag/wired-events/)[WIRED Insider](https://www.wired.com/collection/wiredinsider/)[WIRED Consulting](https://www.wired.com/tag/wired-consulting/) [Newsletters](https://www.wired.com/newsletter?sourceCode=hamburgernav) [Podcasts](https://www.wired.com/podcasts/) [Video](https://www.wired.com/video/) [Livestreams](https://www.wired.com/livestreams) [Merch](https://shop.wired.com/) [Search](https://www.wired.com/search/) [Sign In](https://www.wired.com/auth/initiate?redirectURL=%2Fstory%2Fdonald-trump-positive-coronavirus-covid-19%2F&source=VERSO_NAVIGATION) [START FREE TRIAL](https://www.wired.com/v2/offers/wira01035?source=Site_0_JNY_WIR_DESKTOP_NAV_DRAWER_0_US_ACQ_NLI_CONTROL_GENERIC_ZZ) [![ZOOM IN \<br\> Subscribe today for only \<del\>\$4\</del\> \<strong\>\$2/month\</strong\> and get access to exclusive benefits including \<strong\>5 all-new premium newsletters.\</strong\> CTA:SUBSCRIBE](https://assets.bonappetit.com/photos/686ea38fcb59aaabef7a795d/original/pass/Wired_Zoom_Rollover_300x200_v2a_Shorter.gif?format=original)](https://www.wired.com/v2/offers/wira01035?source=Site_0_JNY_WIR_NAV_ROLLOVER_0_US_ACQ_NLI_CONTROL_GENERIC_ZZ) [Sign In](https://www.wired.com/auth/initiate?redirectURL=%2Fstory%2Fdonald-trump-positive-coronavirus-covid-19%2F&source=VERSO_NAVIGATION) The intersection of technology, power, and culture. Start your free trial and get access to 5 all-new premium newsletters. [START FREE TRIAL](https://www.wired.com/v2/offers/wira01035?source=Site_0_JNY_WIR_DESKTOP_PAYWALL_THIN_0_US_ACQ_NLI_CONTROL_GENERIC_ZZ) [Adam Rogers](https://www.wired.com/contributor/adam-rogers/) [Science](https://www.wired.com/category/science) Oct 2, 2020 7:01 AM # President Donald Trump Tests Positive for Covid-19 Some people get no symptoms or mild ones, and there are treatments for the severest cases. But the disease is risky for people who are older and overweight. ![donald trump against debate background](https://media.wired.com/photos/5f77147919391184c2b195d5/3:2/w_2560%2Cc_limit/science_trump_1228794973.jpg) Photograph: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images Save this story Save this story All products featured on WIRED are independently selected by our editors. However, we may receive compensation from retailers and/or from purchases of products through these links. [Learn more.](https://www.wired.com/about/affiliate-link-policy/) President Donald Trump announced in a [tweet](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1311892190680014849) late Thursday night that he and his wife Melania have tested positive for the virus that causes Covid-19, the pandemic disease that has killed more than a million people worldwide in just nine months—and one whose severity the president has consistently downplayed. It’s an extraordinary turn of events just 32 days before Election Day. White House spokespeople had, only hours before, announced that the president’s close adviser [Hope Hicks was ill with Covid-19](https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/hope-hicks-president-trumps-closest-advisers-tests-positive/story?id=73377363). She, the president, and the first lady have had close contact with innumerable aides, family members, campaign staff, reporters, and security detail members who have accompanied the president on the trail over the last few weeks, including to [Tuesday’s](https://www.wired.com/story/trump-biden-debate-recap-twitter-politics-metaverse/) [debate](https://www.wired.com/story/the-debate-was-a-disaster-but-hey-climate-change-came-up/) with former vice president Joe Biden. As recently as this week, the president and Vice President Mike Pence were [holding rallies](https://www.startribune.com/trump-is-back-in-minnesota-to-raise-money-and-rally-supporters/572591282/) with [hundreds of people](https://www.post-gazette.com/news/politics-nation/2020/09/17/Trump-rally-Pittsburgh-International-Airport-Moon-Sept-22-presidential-campaign/stories/202009170183), sometimes crowded into [enclosed spaces](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/14/us/politics/trump-nevada-rally.html), mostly without wearing face masks—exactly the kind of behaviors known to spread the virus. ### WIRED's Guide to How the Universe Works Your weekly roundup of the best stories on health care, the climate crisis, new scientific discoveries, and more. Actual details of the president’s illness are scant; his physician Sean Conley wrote a [memorandum](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EjTLifSVoAAXSnj.jpg) released by the White House press office saying that “the President and First Lady are both well at this time.” Melania Trump [tweeted](https://twitter.com/FLOTUS/status/1311900591174680581), “We are feeling good.” At a rally two weeks ago, Trump [told the crowd](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/covid-it-affects-virutally-nobody-trump-coronavirus-rally/) that the virus “affects virtually no one.” Trending Now [WIRED25 2020: Audrey Tang on How Taiwan Coded Its Way Out of a Pandemic](https://www.wired.com/video/watch/wired25-2020-audrey-tang-taiwan-covid-19-pandemic) Not only is that not true, but the possible consequences are much more severe for people who are older and obese. In a weird twist of luck for Trump, though, Covid-19 has been around for long enough that health care workers and scientists have begun to come up with ways to treat it. Here are the kinds of options health care workers might consider for someone like the president. Even though people of any age and any health status can get very sick and die from Covid-19, three of the things that make the disease most deadly are being male, old, and overweight. That’s not great for the president. Trump is 74 years old and, [as of June](https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/white-house-releases-results-trumps-annual-physical-president/story?id=71049289), weighed 244 pounds. Technically that makes him mildly obese. [Across an entire population](https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02483-2), all other things being equal, Covid-19 kills hardly anyone under 50. But over 50, [the numbers start to climb](https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/covid-data/investigations-discovery/hospitalization-death-by-age.html). For people older than their mid-seventies, the mortality rate for Covid-19 is [around 4 percent](https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.07.23.20160895v5). “Compared to an 18- to 29-year-old, someone aged 73 is about 5 times more likely to be hospitalized and about 90 times more likely to die of Covid,” says Bob Wachter, chair of the department of medicine at UC San Francisco. “Once you’re up to age 75, that death number becomes 220 times more likely to die.” Obesity makes the numbers even worse, though no one’s really sure why. So do other chronic illnesses that often go along with age, like diabetes and [heart conditions](https://www.wired.com/story/if-youve-just-had-covid-exercise-might-not-be-good-for-you/). “This has nothing to do with the president’s specific situation, just the odds in a population,” Wachter says. “But the odds of someone that age with comorbidities getting sick enough to be hospitalized are well above 10 percent, and the odds of dying are probably in the 5 to 10 percent range.” The president’s physicians have [repeatedly reported](https://www.wired.com/story/trump-physical-exam/) that he is healthier than even younger, lighter men. (Of course, in 2015, when Trump was a candidate, he apparently [dictated](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-43970908) his own doctor’s letter.) Trump doesn’t smoke tobacco or drink alcohol, but he also doesn’t seem to engage in regular exercise outside golf. And other weird events have given rise to concerns and whispers that Trump’s health was in fact [secretly not so great](https://www.wired.com/story/no-you-dont-need-to-see-president-trumps-medical-records/). Occasionally, he seems to slur his words or seem unsteady at public events, as when he apparently had trouble [navigating down a shallow ramp](https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/politics/trump-walks-slowly-down-ramp-after-west-point-commencement-speech/2020/06/14/b1037ca0-b2a1-4c31-9fca-e8c9ed8d4cf7_video.html) after a speech at the US Military Academy. And then there was the sudden and unsatisfactorily explained [emergency trip by motorcade](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trumps-health-under-scrutiny-again-after-unplanned-visit-to-walter-reed/2019/11/18/f83c91a4-0a26-11ea-97ac-a7ccc8dd1ebc_story.html) to Walter Reed Medical Center in 2019. Most Popular - [![The Fanfare Around the Band Geese Actually Was a Psyop](https://media.wired.com/photos/69d7c981444a1a70ce52eb20/1:1/w_120%2Ch_120%2Cc_limit/undefined)](https://www.wired.com/story/geese-chaotic-good-marketing-industry-plant/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_93859dfa-4703-4617-a9d3-2e792df855ec_popular4-2) Music [The Fanfare Around the Band Geese Actually Was a Psyop](https://www.wired.com/story/geese-chaotic-good-marketing-industry-plant/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_93859dfa-4703-4617-a9d3-2e792df855ec_popular4-2) By John Semley - [![The Star Trek Communicator Is Now a High-End Wristwatch](https://media.wired.com/photos/69dfc0c83380b4dafad85cb5/1:1/w_120%2Ch_120%2Cc_limit/undefined)](https://www.wired.com/story/the-star-trek-communicator-is-now-a-high-end-wristwatch/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_93859dfa-4703-4617-a9d3-2e792df855ec_popular4-2) Gear [The Star Trek Communicator Is Now a High-End Wristwatch](https://www.wired.com/story/the-star-trek-communicator-is-now-a-high-end-wristwatch/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_93859dfa-4703-4617-a9d3-2e792df855ec_popular4-2) By Jeremy White - [![Where the DOGE Operatives Are Now](https://media.wired.com/photos/69dffe96100f73b2d7f78ec6/1:1/w_120%2Ch_120%2Cc_limit/undefined)](https://www.wired.com/story/where-the-doge-operatives-are-now/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_93859dfa-4703-4617-a9d3-2e792df855ec_popular4-2) Politics [Where the DOGE Operatives Are Now](https://www.wired.com/story/where-the-doge-operatives-are-now/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_93859dfa-4703-4617-a9d3-2e792df855ec_popular4-2) By Vittoria Elliott - [![The Last Airbender Leaked Online. Some Fans Say Paramount Deserves the Fallout](https://media.wired.com/photos/69decbf74d898774bc720f4f/1:1/w_120%2Ch_120%2Cc_limit/undefined)](https://www.wired.com/story/the-last-airbender-leak-fans-say-paramount-deserves-fallout/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_93859dfa-4703-4617-a9d3-2e792df855ec_popular4-2) Culture [The Last Airbender Leaked Online. Some Fans Say Paramount Deserves the Fallout](https://www.wired.com/story/the-last-airbender-leak-fans-say-paramount-deserves-fallout/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_93859dfa-4703-4617-a9d3-2e792df855ec_popular4-2) By Miles Klee Still, the president will certainly get the best possible care if he starts to worsen. Mild Covid-19 symptoms get treated the same as any other viral infection—rest, liquids, anti-inflammatories like acetaminophen or ibuprofen. “It’ll be interesting to see if they try to do something more experimental,” Wachter says. “The treatments that have been demonstrated to be beneficial in patients that are sicker, it wouldn’t be shocking to think they’d be considered in this particular case.” It’s not a sure thing that the president will get sick at all, of course. The White House doctor [said](https://hosted.ap.org/delrionewsherald/article/f8465b2cbb2accdba626eef585bb36e5/white-house-doctor-trump-continue-carrying-out-duties) that the president will continue to perform his duties. Even so, people who end up hospitalized, needing oxygen or assisted breathing, do have some treatment options. Hydroxychloroquine likely won’t be one; for months Trump touted the preventative and curative properties of the drug, but major studies eventually found [it didn’t help](https://www.wired.com/story/hydroxychloroquine-still-doesnt-do-anything-new-data-shows/). Physicians might administer [convalescent plasma](https://www.wired.com/story/97000-people-got-convalescent-plasma-who-knows-if-it-works/), basically the immunological components of the blood of recovered Covid-19 patients. It, too, hasn’t been shown definitively to help, but it has proven safe in use so far and has a history of benefits in other pandemics. An antiviral drug, [remdesivir](https://www.wired.com/story/what-does-it-mean-to-say-a-new-drug-works/), seems to reduce the length of hospital stays, and it’s commonly administered now. The only drug to have been shown, cleanly, to reduce overall mortality is a [corticosteroid](https://www.wired.com/story/dexamethasone-and-the-recovery-trials-high-speed-science/) called dexamethasone, but doctors don’t use steroids in the early phase of the disease. “Starting that early would be absolutely wrong,” Wachter says. Steroids suppress the immune system, and “if you’re mucking around with your body’s effort to mount an immune response early in an infection, that’s a bad thing to do.” But severe Covid-19 can involve a second phase in which a person’s immune system gets overactive and starts to damage the body. That’s where steroids have helped. One possible therapy that hasn’t been completely tested yet but shows enough promise that a president’s doctors might consider it is the use [monoclonal antibodies](http://europepmc.org/article/PMC/5613179). These are engineered proteins designed to specifically prevent SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, from attaching to and entering a person’s cells. At least [two](https://investor.regeneron.com/news-releases/news-release-details/regenerons-regn-cov2-antibody-cocktail-reduced-viral-levels-and) [companies](https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/clinical-trials-monoclonal-antibodies-prevent-covid-19-now-enrolling) have monoclonal antibodies, or mAbs, in phase 3 clinical trials, and early results at least hint at safety and maybe even efficacy. If the situation was dire enough and the patient was getting all possible care, it’s possible to imagine doctors using the experimental therapy as a Hail Mary. “I have to assume that they will consider that. It’s not far enough along to be approved for widespread use,” Wachter says, “but in this particular case, almost ironically, they will be looking at all the scientific evidence.” Really, though, the options for a person with Covid-19, whether it’s mild to severe, don’t vary much whether that person is a president or not. “It’s not like there’s a magic treatment where we unlock the box and give it to him,” Wachter says. “The magic treatments are the ones where we don’t know if they work.” The hope, of course, is that neither the president nor his wife will need magic, or even science—that simple rest and care will see them through. *** More From WIRED on Covid-19 - 📩 Want the latest on tech, science, and more? [Sign up for our newsletters](https://www.wired.com/newsletter?sourceCode=BottomStories)\! - If you've just had Covid, [exercise might not be good for you](https://www.wired.com/story/if-youve-just-had-covid-exercise-might-not-be-good-for-you/?itm_campaign=BottomRelatedStories_Coronavirus&itm_content=footer-recirc) - Colds nearly vanished under lockdown. [Now they’re coming back](https://www.wired.com/story/colds-nearly-vanished-under-lockdown-now-theyre-coming-back/?itm_campaign=BottomRelatedStories_Coronavirus&itm_content=footer-recirc) - Covid-19 vaccines could end up [with bias built right in](https://www.wired.com/story/covid-19-vaccines-could-end-up-with-bias-built-right-in/?itm_campaign=BottomRelatedStories_Coronavirus&itm_content=footer-recirc) - What teaching online classes [taught me about remote learning](https://www.wired.com/story/teaching-online-classes-tips-lessons/?itm_campaign=BottomRelatedStories_Coronavirus&itm_content=footer-recirc) - Hey students! Here's how to [deal with school in a pandemic](https://www.wired.com/story/hey-students-heres-how-deal-with-school-pandemic/?itm_campaign=BottomRelatedStories_Coronavirus&itm_content=footer-recirc) - Read all of [our coronavirus coverage here](https://www.wired.com/tag/coronavirus/?itm_campaign=BottomRelatedStories_Coronavirus&itm_content=footer-recirc) [![](https://media.wired.com/photos/65e83bcec9d1003a19b298eb/1:1/w_90%2Cc_limit/adam_rogers.jpg)](https://www.wired.com/contributor/adam-rogers/) [Adam Rogers](https://www.wired.com/contributor/adam-rogers/) writes about science and miscellaneous geekery. Before coming to WIRED, Rogers was a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT and a reporter for Newsweek. He is the author of The New York Times science bestseller Proof: The Science of Booze. ... [Read More](https://www.wired.com/contributor/adam-rogers) Former Senior Correspondent Topics[COVID-19](https://www.wired.com/tag/covid-19/)[coronavirus](https://www.wired.com/tag/coronavirus/)[epidemiology](https://www.wired.com/tag/epidemiology/)[public health](https://www.wired.com/tag/public-health/)[politics](https://www.wired.com/tag/politics/)[Donald Trump](https://www.wired.com/tag/donald-trump/) ### WIRED's Guide to How the Universe Works Your weekly roundup of the best stories on health care, the climate crisis, new scientific discoveries, and more. Read More [![The Ghosts of Al-Shifa Hospital](https://media.wired.com/photos/69c552e4fa7ad3cd5ef140f8/16:9/w_640%2Cc_limit/undefined)](https://www.wired.com/story/gaza-war-al-shifa-hospital-ghosts/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_bab9d786-1bb9-44f1-8ef4-9db7815d9b1e_roberta-similarity1) [The Ghosts of Al-Shifa Hospital](https://www.wired.com/story/gaza-war-al-shifa-hospital-ghosts/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_bab9d786-1bb9-44f1-8ef4-9db7815d9b1e_roberta-similarity1) Months into a supposed ceasefire in Gaza, doctors still have to smuggle in basic medical supplies—and treat new casualties of war. Spencer Ackerman [![No One Knows Where US Vaccine Policy Goes Next](https://media.wired.com/photos/69d808d3ce1f65d162ddb258/16:9/w_640%2Cc_limit/undefined)](https://www.wired.com/story/no-one-knows-where-us-vaccine-policy-goes-next/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_bab9d786-1bb9-44f1-8ef4-9db7815d9b1e_roberta-similarity1) [No One Knows Where US Vaccine Policy Goes Next](https://www.wired.com/story/no-one-knows-where-us-vaccine-policy-goes-next/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_bab9d786-1bb9-44f1-8ef4-9db7815d9b1e_roberta-similarity1) Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s sweeping changes to federal vaccine guidance are paused for now. But even if they’re reversed, lasting damage has already been done. Emily Mullin [![Don’t Listen to Anyone Who Thinks Secession Will Solve Anything](https://media.wired.com/photos/69b97dfad8d631c623d3318b/16:9/w_640%2Cc_limit/undefined)](https://www.wired.com/story/dont-listen-anyone-who-thinks-secession-will-solve-anything/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_bab9d786-1bb9-44f1-8ef4-9db7815d9b1e_roberta-similarity1) [Don’t Listen to Anyone Who Thinks Secession Will Solve Anything](https://www.wired.com/story/dont-listen-anyone-who-thinks-secession-will-solve-anything/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_bab9d786-1bb9-44f1-8ef4-9db7815d9b1e_roberta-similarity1) Americans increasingly fantasize about a divorce between red and blue states—but they dread the thought of civil war. You can’t have one without the other. Ryan D. Griffiths [![Hassan Took a Bike Ride. Now He’s One of the Thousands Missing in Gaza](https://media.wired.com/photos/69bb3e4c52ccb057f936398b/16:9/w_640%2Cc_limit/undefined)](https://www.wired.com/story/hassan-took-a-bike-ride-now-hes-one-of-the-thousands-missing-in-gaza/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_bab9d786-1bb9-44f1-8ef4-9db7815d9b1e_roberta-similarity1) [Hassan Took a Bike Ride. Now He’s One of the Thousands Missing in Gaza](https://www.wired.com/story/hassan-took-a-bike-ride-now-hes-one-of-the-thousands-missing-in-gaza/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_bab9d786-1bb9-44f1-8ef4-9db7815d9b1e_roberta-similarity1) In a place denied access to basic forensic technology—and where people disappear into Israeli detention—the fate of thousands remains unknown. One of them is an autistic teenager. Mahmoud Mushtaha [![Snake Bros Keep Getting Bitten by Their Lethal Pets. Only Zoos Can Save Them](https://media.wired.com/photos/69cffdb3640c23d3efe3532c/16:9/w_640%2Cc_limit/undefined)](https://www.wired.com/snake-bros-antivenom-index-zoos-influencers-chris-gifford/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_bab9d786-1bb9-44f1-8ef4-9db7815d9b1e_roberta-similarity1) [Snake Bros Keep Getting Bitten by Their Lethal Pets. Only Zoos Can Save Them](https://www.wired.com/snake-bros-antivenom-index-zoos-influencers-chris-gifford/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_bab9d786-1bb9-44f1-8ef4-9db7815d9b1e_roberta-similarity1) Your venomous serpent bites you, and the clock is ticking. America’s zookeepers—and a cooler full of rare antivenom—are your best chance of survival. Claire McNear [![Anduril Wants to Own the Future of War Tech. Mishaps, Delays, and Challenges Abound](https://media.wired.com/photos/69c2bfbc5854d831d24bbc07/16:9/w_640%2Cc_limit/undefined)](https://www.wired.com/story/andurils-real-war-is-with-itself/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_bab9d786-1bb9-44f1-8ef4-9db7815d9b1e_roberta-similarity1) [Anduril Wants to Own the Future of War Tech. Mishaps, Delays, and Challenges Abound](https://www.wired.com/story/andurils-real-war-is-with-itself/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_bab9d786-1bb9-44f1-8ef4-9db7815d9b1e_roberta-similarity1) From drones to missiles to submarines, the \$30.5 billion defense startup wants to transform how the tools of war are made. It’s not all going as planned. Paresh Dave [![Your Body Is Betraying Your Right to Privacy](https://media.wired.com/photos/69c1aa958d470e1446eb5d44/16:9/w_640%2Cc_limit/undefined)](https://www.wired.com/story/book-excerpt-your-data-will-be-used-against-you-andrew-guthrie-ferguson/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_bab9d786-1bb9-44f1-8ef4-9db7815d9b1e_roberta-similarity1) [Your Body Is Betraying Your Right to Privacy](https://www.wired.com/story/book-excerpt-your-data-will-be-used-against-you-andrew-guthrie-ferguson/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_bab9d786-1bb9-44f1-8ef4-9db7815d9b1e_roberta-similarity1) Attachment to smart devices and biometric surveillance leaves Americans more vulnerable to police searches than ever. Left unchecked it will only get worse. Andrew Guthrie Ferguson [![What's in Hasan Piker's Streaming Starter Pack](https://media.wired.com/photos/69deb76bc40d39c885aeb5d3/16:9/w_640%2Cc_limit/undefined)](https://www.wired.com/story/hasan-pikers-starter-pack/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_bab9d786-1bb9-44f1-8ef4-9db7815d9b1e_roberta-similarity1) [What's in Hasan Piker's Streaming Starter Pack](https://www.wired.com/story/hasan-pikers-starter-pack/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_bab9d786-1bb9-44f1-8ef4-9db7815d9b1e_roberta-similarity1) The internet’s most jacked leftist shares the tech and daily rituals that fuel his marathon streams. Boutayna Chokrane [![Opposing ICE Might Save the Country. 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Koerner [![A Billionaire-Backed Startup Wants to Grow 'Organ Sacks' to Replace Animal Testing](https://media.wired.com/photos/69bd923f33c22df804229607/16:9/w_640%2Cc_limit/undefined)](https://www.wired.com/story/a-billionaire-backed-startup-wants-to-grow-organ-sacks-to-replace-animal-testing/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_bab9d786-1bb9-44f1-8ef4-9db7815d9b1e_roberta-similarity1) [A Billionaire-Backed Startup Wants to Grow 'Organ Sacks' to Replace Animal Testing](https://www.wired.com/story/a-billionaire-backed-startup-wants-to-grow-organ-sacks-to-replace-animal-testing/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_bab9d786-1bb9-44f1-8ef4-9db7815d9b1e_roberta-similarity1) R3 Bio has a bold idea for replacing lab animals: genetically-engineered whole organ systems that lack a brain. The long-term goal, says a cofounder, is to make human versions. Emily Mullin [![MyMove Is the US Government’s Shittiest Website](https://media.wired.com/photos/69c44b8aa8ef1ae045a7c51c/16:9/w_640%2Cc_limit/undefined)](https://www.wired.com/story/the-governments-shittiest-website/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_bab9d786-1bb9-44f1-8ef4-9db7815d9b1e_roberta-similarity1) [MyMove Is the US Government’s Shittiest Website](https://www.wired.com/story/the-governments-shittiest-website/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_bab9d786-1bb9-44f1-8ef4-9db7815d9b1e_roberta-similarity1) For more than 30 years, the US Postal Service has sent people who need to change their addresses to MyMove. Experts say the site uses dark patterns to trap visitors in an online purgatory of “deals.” Todd Feathers [![Chris Hayes Has Some Advice for Keeping Up With the News](https://media.wired.com/photos/69c1b2b856888c87f24c925c/16:9/w_640%2Cc_limit/undefined)](https://www.wired.com/story/the-big-interview-podcast-chris-hayes/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_bab9d786-1bb9-44f1-8ef4-9db7815d9b1e_roberta-similarity1) [Chris Hayes Has Some Advice for Keeping Up With the News](https://www.wired.com/story/the-big-interview-podcast-chris-hayes/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_bab9d786-1bb9-44f1-8ef4-9db7815d9b1e_roberta-similarity1) The host of MS Now’s All In, knows how hard it is to stay current. But he also knows where you should focus your attention—and it starts with a sober view of AI. 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Readable Markdown	All products featured on WIRED are independently selected by our editors. However, we may receive compensation from retailers and/or from purchases of products through these links. [Learn more.](https://www.wired.com/about/affiliate-link-policy/) President Donald Trump announced in a [tweet](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1311892190680014849) late Thursday night that he and his wife Melania have tested positive for the virus that causes Covid-19, the pandemic disease that has killed more than a million people worldwide in just nine months—and one whose severity the president has consistently downplayed. It’s an extraordinary turn of events just 32 days before Election Day. White House spokespeople had, only hours before, announced that the president’s close adviser [Hope Hicks was ill with Covid-19](https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/hope-hicks-president-trumps-closest-advisers-tests-positive/story?id=73377363). She, the president, and the first lady have had close contact with innumerable aides, family members, campaign staff, reporters, and security detail members who have accompanied the president on the trail over the last few weeks, including to [Tuesday’s](https://www.wired.com/story/trump-biden-debate-recap-twitter-politics-metaverse/) [debate](https://www.wired.com/story/the-debate-was-a-disaster-but-hey-climate-change-came-up/) with former vice president Joe Biden. As recently as this week, the president and Vice President Mike Pence were [holding rallies](https://www.startribune.com/trump-is-back-in-minnesota-to-raise-money-and-rally-supporters/572591282/) with [hundreds of people](https://www.post-gazette.com/news/politics-nation/2020/09/17/Trump-rally-Pittsburgh-International-Airport-Moon-Sept-22-presidential-campaign/stories/202009170183), sometimes crowded into [enclosed spaces](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/14/us/politics/trump-nevada-rally.html), mostly without wearing face masks—exactly the kind of behaviors known to spread the virus. ### WIRED's Guide to How the Universe Works Your weekly roundup of the best stories on health care, the climate crisis, new scientific discoveries, and more. Actual details of the president’s illness are scant; his physician Sean Conley wrote a [memorandum](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EjTLifSVoAAXSnj.jpg) released by the White House press office saying that “the President and First Lady are both well at this time.” Melania Trump [tweeted](https://twitter.com/FLOTUS/status/1311900591174680581), “We are feeling good.” At a rally two weeks ago, Trump [told the crowd](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/covid-it-affects-virutally-nobody-trump-coronavirus-rally/) that the virus “affects virtually no one.” Not only is that not true, but the possible consequences are much more severe for people who are older and obese. In a weird twist of luck for Trump, though, Covid-19 has been around for long enough that health care workers and scientists have begun to come up with ways to treat it. Here are the kinds of options health care workers might consider for someone like the president. Even though people of any age and any health status can get very sick and die from Covid-19, three of the things that make the disease most deadly are being male, old, and overweight. That’s not great for the president. Trump is 74 years old and, [as of June](https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/white-house-releases-results-trumps-annual-physical-president/story?id=71049289), weighed 244 pounds. Technically that makes him mildly obese. [Across an entire population](https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02483-2), all other things being equal, Covid-19 kills hardly anyone under 50. But over 50, [the numbers start to climb](https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/covid-data/investigations-discovery/hospitalization-death-by-age.html). For people older than their mid-seventies, the mortality rate for Covid-19 is [around 4 percent](https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.07.23.20160895v5). “Compared to an 18- to 29-year-old, someone aged 73 is about 5 times more likely to be hospitalized and about 90 times more likely to die of Covid,” says Bob Wachter, chair of the department of medicine at UC San Francisco. “Once you’re up to age 75, that death number becomes 220 times more likely to die.” Obesity makes the numbers even worse, though no one’s really sure why. So do other chronic illnesses that often go along with age, like diabetes and [heart conditions](https://www.wired.com/story/if-youve-just-had-covid-exercise-might-not-be-good-for-you/). “This has nothing to do with the president’s specific situation, just the odds in a population,” Wachter says. “But the odds of someone that age with comorbidities getting sick enough to be hospitalized are well above 10 percent, and the odds of dying are probably in the 5 to 10 percent range.” The president’s physicians have [repeatedly reported](https://www.wired.com/story/trump-physical-exam/) that he is healthier than even younger, lighter men. (Of course, in 2015, when Trump was a candidate, he apparently [dictated](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-43970908) his own doctor’s letter.) Trump doesn’t smoke tobacco or drink alcohol, but he also doesn’t seem to engage in regular exercise outside golf. And other weird events have given rise to concerns and whispers that Trump’s health was in fact [secretly not so great](https://www.wired.com/story/no-you-dont-need-to-see-president-trumps-medical-records/). Occasionally, he seems to slur his words or seem unsteady at public events, as when he apparently had trouble [navigating down a shallow ramp](https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/politics/trump-walks-slowly-down-ramp-after-west-point-commencement-speech/2020/06/14/b1037ca0-b2a1-4c31-9fca-e8c9ed8d4cf7_video.html) after a speech at the US Military Academy. And then there was the sudden and unsatisfactorily explained [emergency trip by motorcade](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trumps-health-under-scrutiny-again-after-unplanned-visit-to-walter-reed/2019/11/18/f83c91a4-0a26-11ea-97ac-a7ccc8dd1ebc_story.html) to Walter Reed Medical Center in 2019. Most Popular Still, the president will certainly get the best possible care if he starts to worsen. Mild Covid-19 symptoms get treated the same as any other viral infection—rest, liquids, anti-inflammatories like acetaminophen or ibuprofen. “It’ll be interesting to see if they try to do something more experimental,” Wachter says. “The treatments that have been demonstrated to be beneficial in patients that are sicker, it wouldn’t be shocking to think they’d be considered in this particular case.” It’s not a sure thing that the president will get sick at all, of course. The White House doctor [said](https://hosted.ap.org/delrionewsherald/article/f8465b2cbb2accdba626eef585bb36e5/white-house-doctor-trump-continue-carrying-out-duties) that the president will continue to perform his duties. Even so, people who end up hospitalized, needing oxygen or assisted breathing, do have some treatment options. Hydroxychloroquine likely won’t be one; for months Trump touted the preventative and curative properties of the drug, but major studies eventually found [it didn’t help](https://www.wired.com/story/hydroxychloroquine-still-doesnt-do-anything-new-data-shows/). Physicians might administer [convalescent plasma](https://www.wired.com/story/97000-people-got-convalescent-plasma-who-knows-if-it-works/), basically the immunological components of the blood of recovered Covid-19 patients. It, too, hasn’t been shown definitively to help, but it has proven safe in use so far and has a history of benefits in other pandemics. An antiviral drug, [remdesivir](https://www.wired.com/story/what-does-it-mean-to-say-a-new-drug-works/), seems to reduce the length of hospital stays, and it’s commonly administered now. The only drug to have been shown, cleanly, to reduce overall mortality is a [corticosteroid](https://www.wired.com/story/dexamethasone-and-the-recovery-trials-high-speed-science/) called dexamethasone, but doctors don’t use steroids in the early phase of the disease. “Starting that early would be absolutely wrong,” Wachter says. Steroids suppress the immune system, and “if you’re mucking around with your body’s effort to mount an immune response early in an infection, that’s a bad thing to do.” But severe Covid-19 can involve a second phase in which a person’s immune system gets overactive and starts to damage the body. That’s where steroids have helped. One possible therapy that hasn’t been completely tested yet but shows enough promise that a president’s doctors might consider it is the use [monoclonal antibodies](http://europepmc.org/article/PMC/5613179). These are engineered proteins designed to specifically prevent SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, from attaching to and entering a person’s cells. At least [two](https://investor.regeneron.com/news-releases/news-release-details/regenerons-regn-cov2-antibody-cocktail-reduced-viral-levels-and) [companies](https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/clinical-trials-monoclonal-antibodies-prevent-covid-19-now-enrolling) have monoclonal antibodies, or mAbs, in phase 3 clinical trials, and early results at least hint at safety and maybe even efficacy. If the situation was dire enough and the patient was getting all possible care, it’s possible to imagine doctors using the experimental therapy as a Hail Mary. “I have to assume that they will consider that. It’s not far enough along to be approved for widespread use,” Wachter says, “but in this particular case, almost ironically, they will be looking at all the scientific evidence.” Really, though, the options for a person with Covid-19, whether it’s mild to severe, don’t vary much whether that person is a president or not. “It’s not like there’s a magic treatment where we unlock the box and give it to him,” Wachter says. “The magic treatments are the ones where we don’t know if they work.” The hope, of course, is that neither the president nor his wife will need magic, or even science—that simple rest and care will see them through. *** More From WIRED on Covid-19 - 📩 Want the latest on tech, science, and more? [Sign up for our newsletters](https://www.wired.com/newsletter?sourceCode=BottomStories)\! - If you've just had Covid, [exercise might not be good for you](https://www.wired.com/story/if-youve-just-had-covid-exercise-might-not-be-good-for-you/?itm_campaign=BottomRelatedStories_Coronavirus&itm_content=footer-recirc) - Colds nearly vanished under lockdown. [Now they’re coming back](https://www.wired.com/story/colds-nearly-vanished-under-lockdown-now-theyre-coming-back/?itm_campaign=BottomRelatedStories_Coronavirus&itm_content=footer-recirc) - Covid-19 vaccines could end up [with bias built right in](https://www.wired.com/story/covid-19-vaccines-could-end-up-with-bias-built-right-in/?itm_campaign=BottomRelatedStories_Coronavirus&itm_content=footer-recirc) - What teaching online classes [taught me about remote learning](https://www.wired.com/story/teaching-online-classes-tips-lessons/?itm_campaign=BottomRelatedStories_Coronavirus&itm_content=footer-recirc) - Hey students! Here's how to [deal with school in a pandemic](https://www.wired.com/story/hey-students-heres-how-deal-with-school-pandemic/?itm_campaign=BottomRelatedStories_Coronavirus&itm_content=footer-recirc) - Read all of [our coronavirus coverage here](https://www.wired.com/tag/coronavirus/?itm_campaign=BottomRelatedStories_Coronavirus&itm_content=footer-recirc)
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