President Donald Trump Taken To Walter Reed After COVID Diagnosis

Update 6:50 p.m. EDT

Trump tweeted a video message just before leaving the White House.

There were no immediate plans to transfer power to Vice President Mike Pence.

Update 6:40 p.m. EDT

Trump debarked at Walter Reed and was accompanied inside by Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and other members of his entourage. The president walked under his own power.

Update 6:30 p.m. EDT

First lady Melanie Trump remained at the White House.

Update 6:20 p.m. EDT

President Trump was aboard Marine One, ready for transport.

Original story

President Donald Trump, who was diagnosed last Thursday with COVID-19, was hospitalized at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, Friday afternoon out of what White House doctors said was an abundance of caution.

Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany told reporters Trump was to be helicoptered to the military hospital after he was given an antibody cocktail designed to speed his recovery. Marine One was on the White House lawn, standing by to transport the president.

The White House was coy about Trump's condition all day Friday, saying only he was experiencing "mild symptoms." However, the president sent no tweets all day after announcing his diagnosis about 1 a.m. following days of pushing out dozens of tweets and retweets all day long.

White House Dr. Sean Conley issued a statement saying Trump had been given an infusion of polyclonal antibodies produced by Regeneron, a treatment currently in phase 3 clinical testing.

Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, told KTRK-TV, Houston, it was not a good idea to just monitor Trump at the White House, the initial strategy that was adopted, because of his age and his weight, factors that put him at higher risk.

“Now that we’re hearing he’s symptomatic, somebody like that, you know that’s somebody you might consider admitting to the hospital for observation and monitoring because we know oxygen desaturation can occur even without shortness of breath,” Hotez said.

Trump also was reported taking aspirin, zinc and vitamin D to deal with his symptoms. Early in the pandemic, he said he dosed himself with hydroxycholoroquine, an anti-malarial drug that proved ineffective against the virus.

White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows would say only that Trump had mild symptoms. Melania Trump was said to be suffering from a cough and headache. CBS reported the White House had prevented administration medical experts from talking with the press.

Trump's infection comes just 32 days ahead of the Nov. 3 presidential election. Just hours ahead of the diagnosis, Trump assured an Al Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner the "end of the pandemic is in sight."

Trump has continually downplayed the severity of the pandemic and admitted he did so, saying he was trying to prevent panic.