UCSF doc 'rattles' Rachel Maddow with his take on Trump's condition - SF Gate

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UCSF's Dr. Bob Wachter appeared on MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show” on Tuesday to provide his take on the COVID-19 outbreak in the White House and the risk of infection spread at tonight's vice presidential debate.

Sen. Kamala Harris and Vice President Mike Pence will meet on a stage in Utah on the heels of President Donald Trump and multiple other White House staffers testing positive for the coronavirus. Safety measures will be in place to ensure the rivals are socially distanced, including the use of plexiglass barriers.

Maddow questioned whether Pence could be carrying the virus even though he has said he tested negative. The White House has reported the president was showing symptoms on Thursday and Pence said he was with the president two days before that.

"We know that the average person is infectious a day or two before they have systems and so that timeline would make you worry that Vice President Pence was exposed, and therefore he should be staying away from other people until he has a number of negative tests to be 100% on the safe side," Wachter said.

The show also addressed Trump's abilities to carry out his presidential duties and whether they might be impacted by the steroids and dexamethasone he is taking to treat his COVID-19 infection.

"It's hard to say for sure without him being examined by physicians, and I would love it to be independent physicians, but what we do know is that not only does that medicine dexamethasone frequently can cause mood swings, even manicness, euphoria, but COVID can also alter your thinking, and particularly in elderly people," said Wachter. "When an older person comes into a hospital and they're not thinking clearly, they're confused, the first thing we think about is an infection.

"So for a 74-year-old man to have COVID, symptomatic COVID, low-blood oxygen, which can also alter your thinking, and be taking dexamethasone, certainly raises the possibility that his thinking is altered, his judgment is altered from the medications."

Wachter added that he's concerned Trump seems to be the one responsible for figuring out whether he's thinking clearly.

"That’s not a good plan," he said. "I would say of the hundreds and hundreds of patients I’ve taken care of who have altered thinking, it’s not at all infrequent that they have no idea. It’s one of the things that happens. They lose insight. … I can’t say for sure that there’s a problem here, but it certainly is possible."

Maddow's response to all this? "You’re saying some stuff that is rattling me a little bit."

(Watch the full Rachel Maddow episode here in which she asks more questions about Trump's condition.)

After the interview, Wachter further commented on Trump's condition on Twitter, writing, "To be crystal clear, I don't know for sure that he is impaired, but it is possible, as every physician knows. His doctors or other experts need to be assessing him for impairment every day – and be able to accurately report their results without fearing consequences."

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UCSF doc 'rattles' Rachel Maddow with his take on Trump's condition - SF Gate
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