Show an ad over header. AMP  

Age and obesity put Trump at high risk for severe coronavirus infection

02 October 2020
 Dan Ackermann

President Trump is at a high risk for a severe coronavirus infection.

The big picture: The White House physician said that both President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump are "well at this time," but Trump carries multiple risk factors that could lead to serious symptoms over the next few days.

The state of play: People older than 65 are at a particularly high risk for serious infection or death. Trump is 74.

  • Obesity is at the top of the CDC's list of underlying conditions that seem to make coronavirus infections worse. Trump’s body mass index, as recorded in his last two annual physicals, put him just over the line into obesity.
  • The CDC notes that heart disease and high blood pressure may also contribute to severe coronavirus symptoms.
  • While Trump has never been diagnosed with serious heart disease, his doctors have acknowledged that his poor diet and lack of exercise create a risk of heart problems. He takes medication to lower his cholesterol.

Flashback: Earlier this year, Trump took a course of hydroxychloroquine, an unproven drug he believed would prevent coronavirus infection.

  • Clinical studies have, on balance, indicated that the drug most likely does not work, and some research has suggested that it carries a risk of heart damage.

What’s next: The next week will be critical, especially if Trump was infected earlier this week, which seems likely. Symptoms usually begin to appear within five days of infection, but can take up to 14 days.

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

Section2

Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.