Trump's COVID-19 Could Lead to Severe Complications Due to Age and Weight

President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump started their quarantine after they tested positive for COVID-19. This is a reminder that the coronavirus has no boundaries, and that older people are at a higher risk of acquiring the virus.

At this point, President Trump, at the age of 74, does not appear to share lots of risk factors that older people have become more susceptible to infection and severe diseases. The highest rate of death among older COVID-19 patients occurs among those with compromised health or those with other medical conditions in shared living facilities, including nursing homes.

The science shows that the elderly are more vulnerable to the coronavirus infection and are also more likely to develop severe complications, according to TIME. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says, about 80% of deaths in the U.S.from the COVID-19 disease occurred in those aged 65 or older.

President Trump's physical from last summer revealed that he had a body mass index that categorized him as obese, as per CNN. Obesity is one of the CDC's risk factors for developing severe coronavirus disease. However, health experts learned that it's hard to predict how a person will respond to an infection.

"It's not a black and white picture at all. We know this is a bizarre disease and all sorts of things happen," says Lesley Russell, adjunct associate professor at Menzies Center for Health Policy at the University of Sydney and former health policy advisor to the Obama Administration.

Doctors have also learned that more in recent months about reducing that risk, while advanced age may increase the risk of severe disease. The increased testing capacity that Trump has been criticized for suppressing in the early days of the pandemic helps to detect cases earlier. It allows doctors to monitor COVID-19 patients better when the symptoms worsen.

President Trump and First Lady Melania tested when one of Trump's staff members, Hope Hicks tested positive for the virus. Hicks travelled with President Trump to the presidential debate this week.

Experimental medications like remdesivir have been authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on an emergency use basis to treat the disease. However, there is no formal approval of any antiviral medicines to treat COVID-19. The agency authorized as well as steroid and other anti-inflammatory medications to help suppress inflammations that are linked to severe disease and can help suffering patients to breathe on their own.

The lowering rate of death rates are due to these efforts that contribute among those infected people, says the co-director of global health at the National University of Singapore's Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, Dr.Li Yang Hsu.

"Hospitals in most countries around the world are no longer overwhelmed the way they were in Wuhan or northern Italy, for instance," Dr.Li Yang Hsu says. He added that supportive care could help to prevent deaths, mainly in high-income countries with good healthcare systems.

President Trump and First Lady Melania have begun to self-isolate and can only wait if they develop symptoms, for now. Sean Conley, the President's doctor, said that Trump and the First Lady "are both well at this time."

Studies showed that starting antiviral or other therapies in the initial stages of the disease can prevent the progress of the disease. However, knowledge in treating early the infection is still under process, including when and how to use medicines like remdesivir.

Russel says, "At the point that President Trump is now in the disease process, there is no treatment. The country now enters wait-and-see mode as President Trump, and his First Lady' result added to chaos to an already turbulent election season.

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