# Trump and Melania test positive for COVID-19 **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [October 2, 2020, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-and-melania-test-positive-for-covid-19/922010 "2020-10-02T05:07:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 42
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2020, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-and-melania-test-positive-for-covid-19/922010/825 "2020-10-04T17:30:29Z")
> [@flurb](#): > > I’m baffled why they would create this expectation. Now if he doesn’t leave the hospital on Monday, it means that he’s doing worse than they expected. Why say anything at all about a discharge date? Occam’s Razor: It could be 7-dimensional chess. It could also be because they lie more than they breathe, and they’re too stupid to foresee the consequences of their lies, and they’ve already told so many lies they can’t keep them straight. Seriously, anyone who cannot sit down and wrap their heads around the fact that Team Trump lies about everything, is not adequately equipped to assess this situation The compulsive lying is the first axiom that must be fully grasped to understand the rest of it. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2020, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-and-melania-test-positive-for-covid-19/922010/826 "2020-10-04T17:33:52Z")
> [@Fiveyearlurker](#): > > Obviously, he is president, so these numbers might be meaningless because he will get stuff that other people wouldn’t. But you don’t give dex to a patient lightly… Yup. They may have taken the view that the availability of the new monoclonal Ab treatment tipped the balance on the benefit/harm equation. And it may just have been a poor decision to give him dex, of course. The benefit for patients on supplemental oxygen only in that study was small. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2020, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-and-melania-test-positive-for-covid-19/922010/827 "2020-10-04T17:36:46Z")
> [@Fiveyearlurker](#): > > In today’s evasive press conference, the doctor can’t remember whether Trump was given oxygen yesterday (which is impossible to believe, and obviously he would say “no” if he wasn’t given oxygen, so we can conclude that he was). Trump’s doctor is an osteopath IIRC. That doesn’t mean he’s automatically a stupid and terrible doctor, but it means he’s had less rigorous training and is less oriented to the more scientific aspects of medical care. Of course, stupid and terrible seems to be a requirement to join Team Trump, so who knows. He also may be completely full of shit. I’m not sure any reputable physician would want a self-destructive, infamous patient who doesn’t really seem to care about his or anyone else’s health. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2020, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-and-melania-test-positive-for-covid-19/922010/828 "2020-10-04T17:37:40Z")
They didn’t specify HOW he’d leave … in a box may be their expectation? ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2020, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-and-melania-test-positive-for-covid-19/922010/829 "2020-10-04T17:38:24Z")
> [@flurb](#): > > I’m baffled why they would create this expectation. Now if he doesn’t leave the hospital on Monday, it means that he’s doing worse than they expected. Yes, it was a bad idea to say this. They are in disarray. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2020, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-and-melania-test-positive-for-covid-19/922010/830 "2020-10-04T17:39:42Z")
Again with this osteopath crap? He may be an idiot. I suspect he’s not the best. But not for that reason ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2020, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-and-melania-test-positive-for-covid-19/922010/831 "2020-10-04T17:40:59Z")
My take: in his eyes we aren’t important enough to warrant spending time to construct good lies. Any shoddy, easily disproven falsehood will do. If you don’t want to play along, he’ll claim he never said it. Or he’ll call you a name. Or he’ll accuse you of liberal bias. Whatever. Here’s a check…if it bounces I’ll write you another. > [@TriPolar](#): > > Or they wanted to get him looking like he was strong and barely affected by the disease Or he bullied them into giving it to him so he would look strong etc. I keep thinking that doctors may just say, “I won’t give you that treatment,” they’ll be fired and he’ll get someone who will. Look at the impeachment: Mitt Romney was the only one who stood against him because it was suicide to do otherwise. These career military doctors aren’t bulletproof either. ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2020, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-and-melania-test-positive-for-covid-19/922010/832 "2020-10-04T17:41:44Z")
And the cost of dexamethasone is pennies, so it’s not like it is being withheld from the average COVID patient because of price; if it worked for minor cases, it would be used in minor cases. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2020, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-and-melania-test-positive-for-covid-19/922010/833 "2020-10-04T17:41:59Z")
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > Trump’s doctor is an osteopath IIRC. That doesn’t mean he’s automatically a stupid and terrible doctor, but it means he’s had less rigorous training and is less oriented to the more scientific aspects of medical care. This is not correct. In the U.S. a doctor with an “Osteopathic Medicine” credential is a regular doctor qualified in science-based medicine with an oddly anachronostic label, he is not “an osteopath”. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2020, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-and-melania-test-positive-for-covid-19/922010/834 "2020-10-04T17:43:10Z")
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > Trump’s doctor is an osteopath IIRC. That doesn’t mean he’s automatically a stupid and terrible doctor, but it means he’s had less rigorous training and is less oriented to the more scientific aspects of medical care. Just not true. They’ve had the same training as MDs and the same science. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2020, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-and-melania-test-positive-for-covid-19/922010/835 "2020-10-04T17:43:59Z")
> [@lobotomyboy63](#): > > These career military doctors aren’t bulletproof either. Trump’s also the Commander-in-Chief. The doctor may not be able to disobey an order given to him as an officer. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2020, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-and-melania-test-positive-for-covid-19/922010/836 "2020-10-04T17:54:39Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > Again with this osteopath crap? It think it’s unfair to label it crap. It’s crazy that this totally misleading terminology is still used. Why do genuine doctors want this label? It’s hardly unreasonable for someone unfamiliary with the history to assume that someone with a qualification in “Osteopathic Medicine” is a practitioner of the pseudoscience of osteopathy, why would anyone _expect_ anything else? ---
**Author:** ![Tatterdemalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/43a26b/32.png) [@Tatterdemalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tatterdemalion)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2020, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-and-melania-test-positive-for-covid-19/922010/837 "2020-10-04T18:09:20Z")
> [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > You are reading too much into the early administration of steroids. They take some time to work. I would give it in a mild case too. Particularly for an important case. That’s a rather disturbing statement. Why should an important and an unimportant case merit different treatment? ---
**Author:** ![Lance\_Turbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lance_turbo/32/6156_2.png) [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2020, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-and-melania-test-positive-for-covid-19/922010/838 "2020-10-04T18:09:29Z")
> [@Johnny\_Bravo](#): > > And as somebody int he twitter thread pointed out - who the heck uses a giant sharpie to do any kind of actual work? It’s a regular sized Sharpie. Trump’s tiny hands make it look giant. ---
**Author:** ![nelliebly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nelliebly/32/5422_2.png) [@nelliebly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nelliebly)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2020, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-and-melania-test-positive-for-covid-19/922010/839 "2020-10-04T18:10:47Z")
Dexamethasone works almost instantly, according to the many accounts of mountaineering I’ve read. Could it have been given to him to enable him to pose for photos without O2 tanks and masks? Also, an oxygen mask would have obviated the need to wear a regular mask. So they take off the oxygen mask for a couple of photos and pop the O2 mask right back on again. Putting a regular face mask on him wouldn’t have helped the “See? He’s FINE!” propaganda. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2020, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-and-melania-test-positive-for-covid-19/922010/840 "2020-10-04T18:11:15Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Just not true. They’ve had the same training as MDs and the same science. They spend less time in academically-oriented residencies in favor of practical ones, they do less research, there are much fewer osteopaths in dual PhD programs than MD’s. Plus there’s the basic eyebrow-raiser that osteopathy started out as a bullshit “manipulation” specialty, just like chiropractic, that was later retrofitted to be more mainstream-palatable. But they still label themselves with that useless term that doesn’t denote anything except that the discipline began its life as quackery. Sure they claim an emphasis on “holistic” medicine. So do chiropractors, so does my sister-in-law flogging her vitamins and essential oils. ---
**Author:** ![Lance\_Turbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lance_turbo/32/6156_2.png) [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2020, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-and-melania-test-positive-for-covid-19/922010/841 "2020-10-04T18:12:03Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > OMG he is wearing the same clothes its staged. Those photos are definitely staged. You’d have to ignore a lot to think otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2020, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-and-melania-test-positive-for-covid-19/922010/842 "2020-10-04T18:14:01Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Apparently the photos were staged even more than normal. Does exif data always show when the pictures were taken, or could it be when they were transmitted to the press? > [@running\_coach](#): > > The usual incompetence. They keep forgetting that people can zoom in. They seem more disorganized and panicky than I would expect from someone doing well. ---
**Author:** ![nelliebly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nelliebly/32/5422_2.png) [@nelliebly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nelliebly)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2020, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-and-melania-test-positive-for-covid-19/922010/843 "2020-10-04T18:14:52Z")
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > They spend less time in academically-oriented residencies in favor of practical ones, they do less research, there are much fewer osteopaths in dual PhD programs than MD’s. > > Plus there’s the basic eyebrow-raiser that osteopathy started out as a bullshit “manipulation” specialty, just like chiropractic, that was later retrofitted to be more mainstream-palatable. But they still label themselves with that useless term that doesn’t denote anything except that the discipline began its life as quackery. > > Sure they claim an emphasis on “holistic” medicine. So do chiropractors, so does my sister-in-law flogging her vitamins and essential oils. Are you confusing osteopaths with naturopaths? I’ve had a couple of osteopaths as my primary care docs. There’s nothing “holistic” about their approach to medicine. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2020, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-and-melania-test-positive-for-covid-19/922010/844 "2020-10-04T18:17:03Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Does exif data always show when the pictures were taken, or could it be when they were transmitted to the press? When the pictures are taken [along with other data.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exif#Background) > The metadata tags defined in the Exif standard cover a broad spectrum: > > - Date and time information. Digital cameras will record the current date and time and save this in the metadata. > - Camera settings. This includes static information such as the camera model and make, and information that varies with each image such as orientation (rotation), [aperture](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aperture), [shutter speed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shutter_speed), [focal length](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focal_length), [metering mode](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metering_mode), and [ISO speed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_speed) information. > - A [thumbnail](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thumbnail) for previewing the picture on the camera’s LCD screen, in file managers, or in photo manipulation software. > - Descriptions > - Copyright information. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-and-melania-test-positive-for-covid-19/922010.md?page=41) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-and-melania-test-positive-for-covid-19/922010.md?page=43)