Transcript: Donald Trump Meets with Recovered COVID-19 Patients

Donald Trump: (00:00)
… different stories to tell. I thought what I do is I’d go around the room. It’s an honor to have them at the White House and they’re very brave. Some were right at the edge. They thought it was over. It’s a rough plague. I call it the plague. I call it the scourge. I call it whatever you want to call it. It’s rough. It’s bad. A woman that I’ve really found fascinating, she’s from a state that’s a great state and a city that’s been hit very hard. Really very, very hard. Detroit. Highly respected. She’s a political person. She doesn’t happen to be a Republican, and that’s okay. When things aren’t going good and you get a little help from a Republican, we’ll take that too. But your story was just a fantastic story.

We’re going to go around the room. Each of you. This man was an NFL football player for 10 years, a friend of Tom Brady, and he was hit hard.

Speaker 1: (00:55)
Yes, sir.

You weren’t so strong when you got hit by that, that little-

Speaker 1: (00:58)
No, I didn’t feel strong at all at that point.

You were saying you didn’t feel too powerful. So if we could, we’ll go around the room and if we could start with you, Representative, and congratulations. It’s an incredible story. Thank you.

Rep. Karen Whitsett: (01:12)
Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Mr. Vice President. It’s such an honor to be here and it’s such an honor to be here amongst all of you survivors. I just can’t say how wonderful it is to see your face, and thank you for everything that you have done. I did not know that saying thank you had a political line. I didn’t know that. I thought just saying thank you meant thank you and I do, I sincerely appreciate that. Because had you not brought this to the forefront of the HQ of being able to put this out here, I wouldn’t be here today to even have this conversation with you and to be able to talk about the needs of Detroit and talk about the people who really need this, and they need help. And you’re here to address that. I sincerely appreciate that from the both of you, from the bottom of my heart, from the people of my city.

You were so incredible as a Representative, both in terms of how you got better and what you went through. Your husband sounds like a great gentleman. He went down there and he took care of things, right?

Yes, he did.

He took care of things.

Jason Whitsett: (02:14)
Yes, I did. Yes, I did.

That means he loves you. Because some husbands would say, “Eh, let’s not bother.”

Got great insurance though.

He will do whatever he has to do. Right?

Yes, he did.

That was late in the evening you did that, right?

Indeed.

We had the drug store stocked with the medicine. That’s fantastic. What don’t you say what got you to go late in the night to the drug store?

What got me to go late at night, we were trying to do everything we could. She’s real sick. So we kind of in a panic and she’s making phone calls. Once we got to the doctor to put in the script-

Dr. Arsiwala.

Oh, I see.

That’s when I [inaudible 00:02:58] around to the doc.

So the doctor did a good job?

Dr. Arsiwala is amazing. He is a renowned doctor in the state of Michigan and if it wasn’t-

Is he a doctor from a hospital or a local doctor?

He’s a local doctor, but he is in charge of the AMA in Michigan, and he has nine urgent care clinics. He has been on Fox with me as well. But Dr. Arsiwala is amazing.

That’s fantastic.

He has taken care of my family as well. I’ve lost several family members to COVID all in one household.

No kidding.

My cousin [Sharafalla 00:03:33] was in ICU. She lost her husband. He was turned away from numerous hospital as was she over four times. Within six hours, she lost her father in law who was turned away numerous times. Her whole family had to be tested, which are seven family members. Out of those seven family members, she’s had three of those test positive and that is her children. They have tested positive.

How are they doing? How are they doing.

Thanks to Dr. Arsiwala and what you have done, they’re doing great. But it can’t be just-

So they took the hydroxy then?

Yes, they did. But it can’t be just based on my name and your name.

That’s right.

It needs to be something that’s readily available to everyone in the city of Detroit.

Well, I hear that the governor has gone all out for it from being totally opposed to it. Now she’s all out for it. So that’s what I’m hearing. So that’s a good thing. I think it’s a good thing.

It’s a great thing.

You might have said when you started that walk or run, what the hell do I have to lose? Right? You know my expression. What do I have to lose?

I thought about that with [crosstalk 00:04:33].

She was in bad shape and I understand. Congratulations. It’s an incredible story, and I like Democrats. I especially like this Democrat though for just the reason you have a beautiful presence and you’re a beautiful couple. Thank you for coming.

Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you for having us.

I have a feeling she’s going to go very much up. She’s a good representative right now, but I have a feeling politically. Do you have any further political ambitions do you think?

I actually did not even aspire to be a state representative to be perfectly honest.

I don’t know. I may have to cross party lines. I may have to work with her across party lines. Thank you very much.

Thank you, sir.

Great honor to have you both.

Thank you, it was an honor.

Please, tell us your story.

Carl Goldman: (05:18)
My story is we were on the Diamond Princess or ground zero and I didn’t get the virus there, although I tested positive there, didn’t learn about it until later. We were flown back thanks to you. We were flown back by the state department to first-

When nobody would take the Diamond Princess. No other country would take it. Nobody wanted it. They call it a ghost ship. Not good. So we took it.

We were stuck there. It was like we were on a floating Petri dish. We were watching the bodies get off daily, off into ambulances taken out by one. A total of 750 of us over time were taken out. We were more than double the amount of outbreaks if you added everyone in the world at the time other than China, and China wasn’t giving us any information. If you added all that up, we doubled the amount of people who had the virus.

How many people died ultimately on the ship?

11 people have died from the Diamond Princess. On the plane ride back on the 747 military plane, I woke up with a high fever over 103. They put me in a quarantine area next to a about eight other people. We landed in Sacramento at Travis Air Force base and then they saw me and saw I had a precondition of Guillain-Barré syndrome, 67 years old.

Oh, you did have a precondition? [inaudible 00:06:53].

I had a precondition, so they flew me. They had three of us in quarantine and then my wife and two others who didn’t have the virus and my wife never got the virus. She should be the one studied right now. I was flown to-

So you were together, no six foot thing, no nothing. You were together and you didn’t catch it. Wow.

Jeri: (07:15)
They just started taking yesterday… Providence Health and Services on the west coast just started to do a study.

A study on you?

Jeri: (07:22)
Both. Well, they’re using [crosstalk 00:07:29].

You think maybe you had it before, there’s an immunity without knowing it?

Jeri: (07:32)
I don’t think so, but we’ll find out.

So you didn’t see it at all? Wow, that’s fantastic.

I don’t think she had it.

[inaudible 00:07:38].

Believe me. I know that.

It’s amazing to be together like that and not catch it.

Not only that. We had two friends, so we were going back and forth in each of our cabins, they got exposed, they got the virus. We were stuck on-

How did they do?

They did great. They came out great. We were stuck on a bus for six and a half hours with people with the virus. On the plane, people had the virus. She sat next to a husband of a couple who got married on the Diamond Princess. They were in their forties. The wife was next to me in the special quarantined area on the plane. The husband was next to her coughing away. When we ended up at-

Did you feel comfortable?

Jeri: (08:25)
I put a blanket over my head.

Did you cover your head or something?

Jeri: (08:28)
I put a blanket over my head because we were so cold and the smell from the toilets, the two portable toilets on the plane was so bad.

That was on a plane?

Jeri: (08:39)
That was on the cargo plane that you guys had sent for us.

Then you had the bus.

Jeri: (08:42)
Well, the bus was first, so that was a very long process getting off the bus.

So that was no pleasure either.

No, that was-

These people had it.

Jeri: (08:49)
Right.

It’s amazing man that you [crosstalk 00:08:51].

Jeri: (08:52)
Like our friend from St. George, he did not have it on the boat but tested four days later at Fort Travis. So he either got it on the plane or on the bus.

Do you think it brought you together closer?

Jeri: (09:06)
Absolutely.

I could see it.

Jeri: (09:09)
Absolutely.

It brings you together. Does that make any sense?

Jeri: (09:13)
We were separate for five weeks.

In Omaha. Yeah, five weeks because I was in the bio containment area in Omaha and then to a lower level of containment.

You were very sick at one point. Right?

Just the first day on the plane I had the 103 fever. By the time I got to Omaha, I was okay. I still had symptoms. I still had a cough that stayed with me for about two and a half weeks. I had shortness of breath for about four or five days.

How bad was that shortness of breath? Was it noticeable?

It was not noticeable when I was lying in bed, but if I got up and walked around the room, if I walked around the room and talked on the phone at the same time trying to multitask, that was impossible to do.

Really? How about you? You had shortness of breath too I read, right?

Yes.

So how bad was the shortness?

The shortening of breath is what really got me afraid because I do have Lyme disease. Thank you for always mentioning about Lyme disease.

No, Lyme disease is a big deal.

Thank you for always bringing that to the forefront.

Do you think you still have Lyme disease?

I do. I have chronic Lyme disease because I was never treated in time.

Can you get rid of it?

I’m hoping that we could talk about that.

Lyme disease is a thing that people don’t talk about. It is a brutal.

It is brutal.

If you have a certain type of blood, you have no chance.

It’s brutal. It’s brutal. Now on top of having COVID-19 with it is a nightmare. But the breathing is what scared me the most. I went from zero to a hundred. It was from getting tested that day on March 31st to try and do a few things around the house to just all of a sudden my breathing became labored.

So you actually had a hard time breathing?

Oh yeah. I was afraid for my life. Until anyone has been in that person’s shoes, until you have walked that walk and sitting there and knowing that the hospitals near you are-

And sitting there knowing that the hospitals near you are full … the very two hospitals that are near you, that you have access to, that you cannot get into—

Do you think, in retrospect, you were better staying home?

I was better.

Because those hospitals, they can be crowded.

And I didn’t know what my status was. So, can you imagine, you don’t know what your status is, and if you could get into a hospital … and in a way, I was filling up with fluid. My lungs, my breathing being labored, I felt if I didn’t get that medication, it was either the medication or die.

So you thought you were going to die?

I honestly felt I was going to die. And like I tell people, I’m telling my story, I’m telling my truth. I’m not telling anyone else’s story. I’m not telling anyone else what to do. I’m telling my story and my truth, and this is how I feel, and these are my words.

Well, I’m not going to speak for her, but I don’t see her voting for sleepy Joe Biden. I don’t know. I’m not going to ask her that question. But if she votes for sleepy Joe, I’d be surprised, okay? Anyway, incredible story. Such a great story. Thank you. But your wife, I think we’re going to—

Speaker 3: (12:09)
You’re unbelievable.

We’re going to keep your wife around, right? We’ll keep her around [crosstalk 00:12:12]

Speaker 3: (12:13)
She is unbelievable.

What’s in the veins, right?

Speaker 3: (12:14)
She is unbelievable.

That’s fantastic. Great, great stories. Thank you both very much.

Please, go ahead.

Darshin Patel: (12:22)
Yeah, so, I mean, I consider myself a relatively healthy individual. Probably get sick once every couple of years.

Right. That’s good.

And to think that I had something like this was very … kind of surprising. And I think that, to think that you have a virus after being such a healthy individual, you kind of—

Do you know where you caught it?

So I travel a lot, and I had the flu a little bit, so I think my immune system was compromised while I was traveling and it could’ve been just kind of community transfer. It’s been … Just accepting that I had it, I think, was the very hardest part, but then for something like that to take me down for almost eight days of fever and then three days of shortness of breath—

How bad were you?

I’ve never felt this bad in my most recent recollection. I think that—

So, compared … You said you’ve had the flu a number of times. How did you compare this to the flu?

Never felt these symptoms before for this long.

So, a bigger, better, much worse event for you?

Yep. And I only took Tylenol the entire time. I took a lot of it. I think the most frustrating part, honestly, was trying to get a test. I think that going to numerous places and being turned away by a sign on the door that says don’t come in here if you have these symptoms, I think that was a little—

When was it? When was it?

This was early March, so I think part of the challenge was there was a lot of people saying a lot of different things and kind of knowing what to believe, where to go, you kind of go in circles a lot.

When did you find out officially that you had it?

I think on March … Probably about seven or eight days into my fever, I found out. I got the test eventually, and it’s kind of interesting; there’s certain key words that, when you say those at an ER, they automatically treat you differently. So, for me, it was more of an education for a lot of my friends and family—

Okay, so what were the words?

For me, it was more of, “I have a fever and I’ve been in San Francisco.” Those two, basically—

Did that make them treat you better or worse? Or did they treat you like you had the COVID?

They treated me like I had COVID. So they sat me outside of the ER to make sure that I don’t become contagious and infect other people, and I waited out for a little bit, and then they came in and they swabbed me and stuff like that. So they did kind of take me a lot seriously and they got me a test, they got me an influenza test. So I think it’s one of those things that, there’s a lot of unknowns, there’s a lot of questions as to who to test, who not to test, and I think, at that time, there was a lot of people providing recommendations, and some of them were conflicting—

Did you ever think you were going to die?

When I got the news that I had COVID, I think I had anxiety because there was so much going on, and I think that kind of accelerated my shortness of breath symptoms. The second day, I kind of felt that something was wrong, I need to go in the hospital. I didn’t necessarily think I was going to die, but I’ve never felt this bad before, and I think I needed medical attention.

So if it had gotten worse, you would have been in deep trouble. Did you have a problem with your breathing?

I did. I got a pulse ox meter, and just having one of those and knowing that your oxygen levels are normal, it’s like a kind of confidence builder that you’re not going downhill.

What was it showing? The meter?

Mine was always above 95%.

So you looked okay, but you still felt a shortness of breath?

Yep.

So when did you get better?

Probably around day 11 I had gotten better.

That’s a long time, isn’t it? That lasts a long time. But you got better quickly.

After the medication.

After the medication.

It was a long time. It was a long road.

I think just letting people know—

It’s amazing we can’t get people to officially … You know, if somebody else endorsed that medication, it would be great.

I think it would have a lot of endorsements if we get a lot of [crosstalk 00:16:07]

Yeah. No, if … By the way, we have tremendous endorsements, but if it was somebody else other than President Trump that put it forward … if some other person put it forward, they’d say, “Oh, let’s go with it.” What do you have to lose? They’ve been taking it for 40 years for malaria, which, by the way, it’s an unbelievable malaria pill. Unbelievable lupus pill. Unbelievable. In fact, the problem we had is people with lupus—

And Lyme disease.

Huh?

And with Lyme disease. [crosstalk 00:16:34]

And with … I heard Lyme disease, too.

Yes.

No, it’s very powerful. But … it’s incredible, because there’s so many stories like yours. It’s not just … I actually haven’t heard a bad story, you want to know the truth. You know, normally you’d hear some good ones, some bad ones, and you’d still give it a shot. I haven’t heard a bad story. So it’s pretty amazing, actually, but that’s okay. The word is out. The people get it. These people don’t get it … the media … but the people get it.

Anyway, well that’s a great story. So you’re feeling good now?

Yeah.

You’re going to go conquer the world as a young handsome guy? Huh? How old are you?

34.

That’s great. You have a great life ahead of you. Congratulations.

Thank you.

Great job.

So? I’ve seen this man.

David Mangan: (17:20)
My story is unlike a lot of these people here. My wife is with me. We both were in Colorado, came back to Arkansas, and on the phone Monday we had our … mostly her … flu-like symptoms. I felt a little bit bad, fatigued, but my symptoms were not bad. I was diagnosed because I took her to the doctor on Tuesday and the doctor had enough intuition to look at me and could tell that something was wrong.

Is this your doctor? The doctor you know?

My local primary care … or hers … and I was in the room with her—

[crosstalk 00:17:59] look like a very wealthy couple. Do you agree? I think they’re loaded. They’ve got their own doctor deal going. But that’s okay. [crosstalk 00:18:06]

So, I think the scary thing about me … because he tested me and I was positive. She also was positive. But I never had fever, I never had respiratory issues. I did have the body aches, the chills. I felt overall bad, but in general, I would have gotten up that Monday morning if she had not been sick. Even though I felt bad, I would have gone to work, I would have continued on my daily routine, and I’m fearful that maybe—

What do you do?

I work in sales for a pharmaceutical company.

Good. Good.

So, my fear is that people are not exhibiting symptoms, but they—

Your wife showed much worse, had a much harder time?

Yes. Yeah. She was bad, but—

How bad did you get?

Mrs. Mangan: (19:00)
Well, not as bad as some of these, but definitely with that shortness of breath, which actually came later, which is another thing that’s interesting.

And that’s scary, right?

It is. The first few days, I just had a really bad headache and fever … low fever, 100.4, enough to make you feel bad … and the chills and the aches. That lasted about five, six days, and then I thought I was … I was telling people, “I’m fine. It was just kind of like a bad flu. It was not that big a deal.” Still in quarantine and everything, but it was the second week that then the respiratory hit.

Mm-hmm (affirmative).

So you almost felt you were better, and then it came back?

Oh yeah. I told people, “I’m 100%.” I mean, not released, but felt strong enough, and then was hit hard, I think it was that next Wednesday. Then the shortness of breath, and I also got a pulse ox, which did make me feel better. But just, it came in waves. I mean, I had three probably different waves and tested positive again after a month, and I am negative now. But it’s—

How long did it take altogether?

Over a month.

Over a month?

We were positive on the 12th—

The first symptoms were March the 9th.

Yeah, the first symptoms were the 9th, and I didn’t test negative until five days ago.

That’s incredible. How are you now?

I’m great.

Would you say 100%?

I would say 85%.

Stay away from me, please. Stay away. Keep her away.

But the people that we were with in Colorado, every adult was positive with COVID-19. And when we returned, we visited friends, they—

How did they all do? How did they all do?

So far, everybody is fine. No one’s gone into the hospital, and I think they are working with us, doing the things we’re doing. We’re donating blood when necessary. I’ve done convalescent plasma as well.

It seems to be very important. A lot of people, when they recover, they want to donate blood because, you know, your blood is very good for this, right?

Absolutely.

Including every study we have, it’s good. The only question is, is it for one year, or is it for a lifetime? Could be the measles and things, where it’s for a lifetime, they say, but it’s going to be interesting. We just don’t know because it hasn’t been here long enough. It could be for a lifetime.

Well that’s great. So you donated blood?

I actually did convalescent plasma.

That’s good. That’s good. That’s fantastic.

Hopefully that will be very promising.

Yeah. Congratulations. And you’ll be 100% soon, I would imagine.

Absolutely. I think I’m a little scared to say 100% because I think I said that before and then took a dive, so … I’m good.

Well that’s a great story. Thank you very much, both. That’s great. It’s great that it worked out so well. Has anybody … You’re okay. You are as good as … Do you feel you’re as good as you were before this happened?

Speaker 5: (21:59)
Yes.

So that’s good. And I think you do, right? I think you’re better.

I just have—

So that’s good, and I think you do, right? I think you’re better.

It’s just-

She’s a hot political property now.

It’s just that you do have, and I think just because of my underlying condition, I do have the tiredness that comes in. The tiredness does kick up and it would come out of nowhere and I’d just kind of hit … I’d just kind of plumb it.

I’m a little surprised they can’t do something with your Lyme disease, Lyme disease is really-

That’s because that’s federal, I need you. I need you on that.

Yeah, no, but I mean I could even have you see the doctor over here because White House doctor, ask the White House doctor, seriously because Lyme disease can be very, very bad, but it also can be-

Yeah, I don’t have a doctor anymore.

Yeah, it also can be … Is it legal for me to allow her to use the White House doctor? You know what? If it’s not I will suffer the repercussions. I don’t care. The Democrats might not like that.

Well, there are a lot of people in Michigan that do have eight line bills that I am putting forward [crosstalk 00:22:54] because you can not get treated in Michigan as a doctor sees fit for Lyme disease.

People don’t know about Lyme disease. It’s a very bad, very bad thing.

It’s horrible. So it is something I’m working on.

But it is something over a period of time you can treat generally. It also can kill you. Lyme disease, again, if you have a certain type blood, you get a lung disease. It’s over, which literally over, I think type O, type O. Blood is not too good. If you have type O blood stay out of the woods, right?

It’s not even the woods. I got this at home at five years old.

You got it at home?

In Detroit.

But usually it’s from a deer tick. Right?

It is a deer tick.

So where did the tick come from?

Well, the tick does not discriminate. It will get on anything.

So it comes somehow, right?

Yes, squirrel, bug, bird, anything. It doesn’t discriminate.

It’s like when I hit a ball into the rough in golf, you know what I say? Enjoy yourself. I’m not going in there. Yeah, Lyme disease is pretty tough, right?

It is.

It’s a bad one. I’d like you to see our doctor before you leave. Okay?

Thank you.

All right. I’m going to just say, because sometimes they do have a very, very powerful antibiotic and let’s see if we can help you out. Okay. So this man, as you can possibly tell by looking, was a great athlete and a great football player. And I didn’t know Mark, but he said … Tom Brady says hello to you. Tom Brady is a friend of mine and a great guy and just signed a nice new big contract, right?

Mark: (24:19)
Sure did.

With a team that’s supposed to have a lot of potential Tampa Bay. I figured he picked a team … I’m sure he only picked a team with a lot of potential and it’s going to be … How do you think Tom Brady’s going to do?

Mark: (24:30)
I think he’ll do great. Coach Ariens is a guy that I have worked with him before with the Cleveland Browns. He’s going to love BA. They’ll work crate together.

So Mark spent 10 years in the NFL and I guess you played with Tom Brady at Michigan, right?

Mark: (24:46)
Yep, sure did.

Could you see at Michigan … Because he was picked a little bit late, right? Could you see the greatness in Tom Brady at Michigan or not necessarily?

Mark: (24:56)
Absolutely not. No. He was a great college player, but I mean, look, they’re saying he’s the greatest of all time now.

Yeah. That’s hard to say, but you thought he was really a great player in college. Right?

Mark: (25:10)
Of course. So as a quarterback, the most important thing as being the quarterback of the United States is leadership. That’s the most important thing. He’s always had that and work ethic.

So you had a guy, Drew Henson, right? Was first string. Right? Good memories. I have a good memory. They’re always testing my memory. Nobody has a better memory than Trump unless I don’t want to remember certain things, which happens a lot too. But you had a quarterback, Drew Henson, who was actually the starter, and he signed with the Yankees because he wanted to play baseball. The problem is he couldn’t hit the curve ball, right? Couldn’t hit a major league curve ball. But he was a great football player. But he got hurt. Tom Brady took over, the team became much better, right?

Mark: (25:48)
That’s correct.

That’s been Tom Brady’s thing, right? Both Drew’s and a Drew. Right? They had a Drew in the Patriots.

Mark: (25:55)
Yeah. A crisis becomes opportunity.

That’s what happened, and that’s exactly what happened. Well, let’s say hello to Tom when you see him, okay?

Mark: (26:03)
Absolutely.

He’s a great guy. So you’re a big strong guy. 10 years in the NFL. What position did you play?

Mark: (26:09)
I played tight end.

Tight end. Okay. Wow, you’re a big guy for tight end. That’s very good.

Mark: (26:14)
Well, I didn’t say I was a fast tight end, I said I played tight end.

Were you a good catcher? You could hold it pretty well?

Mark: (26:19)
Yeah, I could catch a ball.

Were you a blocker more or less or a receiver?

Mark: (26:24)
I would tell you I was probably more of a blocker.

More of a blocker. That’s great. And how big are you? What are you, 6’6?

Mark: (26:30)
Yeah, just under 6’6. Right now I’m about 252, I had the coronavirus diet, but I played at about 260, 265.

That’s good. You look fantastic. So tell us, so you’re a big powerful guy and this little bug knocked the hell out of you, right?

Mark: (26:47)
Yeah. Well mister president, if I may, from everybody at this table, I don’t think they’ll mind if I speak for them, we just want to applaud you and thank you both for your efforts the past three weeks. It’s been outstanding and we certainly appreciate it.

I appreciate you being here, Mark, and the American people are watching this and I’m finding it fascinating from football players to state reps to all of the things you people do, from a rich couple that wants to go skiing, say what the hell, you going to sue the ski place? Don’t bother. But no, it’s so fascinating to say all different people, different types, different jobs, different everything, all different parts of the country. So tell us what happened, Mark.

Mark: (27:28)
So I’m 44, like you mentioned, ex athlete, still worked out as much as I can. Not as hard as I used to, but still work out in shape. Essentially, I was driving with my family in Northern Michigan. I have three kids, Caden, Evan, and Case, and a wife, Michelle. Stop. The only thing I can think of that I did out of the ordinary, because none of them had, thank God, never had symptoms, still don’t have symptoms, I quarantined for them is I touched a gasoline pump handle. That’s literally the only thing that I can think of. I don’t exactly know how, to be completely frank with you, how I got it.

But that’s the only thing, because you must go back and torture yourself with-

Mark: (28:10)
Trying to figure it out. Lots of time. I mean, when it’s all said and done, I’ve had roughly 30 days of quarantine. That’s 30 days without being able to kiss your kids and wife and do those things that you normally do.

Why so long [inaudible 00:00:28:21]?

Mark: (28:22)
Because right at basically a 12 days, I went into the hospital, I spent another five days in the hospital and when I got out of the hospital I asked the physician, “How long does the quarantine last?” And I think the safe and easy answer was 14 days. Now, I’ll tell you, I went to Creighton Hospital, Rochester, Michigan. They were fantastic. The physicians, especially the nurses, like God bless the nurses in everything they do. My sister Diane is one of them. They were fantastic. They were absolutely fantastic. And for a place where the one thing I think we’ve all kind of touched upon is, look, when you’re in the hospital, when you’re in that position, quite honestly, it’s lonely. I don’t know if that sounds weak or what, but you’re by yourself. Right?

[inaudible 00:07:10].

Mark: (29:12)
Not allowed. Not allowed. Right? And so when those nurses come in and see you and not allowed, not allowed, right. So when the nurses come in and check your vitals every three to four hours, it’s like, “All right, I’ve got somebody to talk to.” Right? So especially when you start to feel better.

A very good guy. Right? Gregarious, I guess they call it. He wants people, he wants people. That’s good. Go ahead.

Mark: (29:30)
Yeah. So I went through that process … Well, technically, just so I back up, if I may just for a bit. So I got in, thought there’s no way. Okay. I should check my temperature. I don’t feel right, but I thought to myself, “There’s no way.” In fact, I made the joke to my wife Michelle that I think I’ve got coronavirus. I’m just totally kidding. I took, my temperature, it was like, 102.6 so I did like any guy, or at least my buddies would do, I said, “I’ll go watch a movie and see if it kind of backs off.”

Mark: (29:58)
Well, it didn’t. So I went through the drive through for screening and basically I was sent home and said, well go quarantine for 14 days and see, you’ll get through this. Chances are you probably have it. So the athlete in me, I will tell you this, the athlete in me, that’s the tough guy that just pushes, right? Grinding and just getting things done. It kind of worked against me here because truthfully if I could have recognized, Hey, stop trying to beat this thing when it’s only getting worse, I probably would have went to the hospital sooner.

Mark: (30:32)
I do not … And I was very aware of not overwhelming hospitals, but my points here for bringing that up is I probably would have also got out of the hospital much quicker. So instead of a five day stay, possibly been a two or three day stays, specially if they would have prescribed HCQ, that would have been fantastic.

So you took the hydroxy?

Mark: (30:52)
I did.

And that made a big difference?

Mark: (30:56)
I would say within 12 hours are you saw improvement and when I went into the hospital I was-

You were pretty bad for a while.

Mark: (31:03)
Yeah. My pulse ox was 86, so I did not get put on a ventilator or something like that. Certainly I was provided oxygen support. Went on the Z-Pak-

So you had the Azithromycin and the zinc too?

Mark: (31:18)
Zinc as well. Yes. I mean, it’s all through the IV drip, right?

Yeah, yeah. Sure.

Mark: (31:22)
So you’re just sitting there hanging out. But that period of driving to the hospital, my wife’s driving me and just seeing her concern, I mean, that’s part of it, right? You see how much they’re concerned. I’d much rather me have it than her have it or the kids.

She never got it?

Mark: (31:39)
She never got it or the kids.

[crosstalk 00:31:41] you’re driving together. She never got it.

Mark: (31:43)
I went in the backseat [crosstalk 00:31:44] style though.

Maybe she’s tougher than you, Mark, do you ever think?

Mark: (31:46)
There’s no doubt that she’s tougher than me. Right? There’s no doubt about it.

That’s pretty amazing. So the end result is you think you’re as good as new, right?

Mark: (31:55)
Yeah. I’ll tell you probably about 95%. the only thing is my lung capacity isn’t quite where it was.

Oh really? [crosstalk 00:32:02] in your lungs.

Mark: (32:04)
Correct.

It was there?

Mark: (32:06)
Yes, absolutely.

Once it gets too far advanced stuff, that’s when [crosstalk 00:10:10].

Mark: (32:09)
I had some pneumonia, I think, showing up or I should say, what is it? Brown glass appearance. Yes.

That’s where the Z-Pak comes in, I think. That’s what-

Mark: (32:21)
Well, that’s why I’m like, “Hey, prescribe whenever you’ve got to prescribe, let me get out of here.”

Why did you take the hydroxy? What did you do then? You saw it on television?

Mark: (32:30)
I asked them about it, and I didn’t know what was called at the time, I just said, “The malaria drug.” And they said, “Okay.” And they ran through some different thoughts about it-

And they had it. And they had it.

Mark: (32:42)
They had it. They sure did.

We’ve stocked up the hospitals, we’ve got 29 million doses. We stocked up a lot of … I think almost all of the hospitals. That’s good. So you saw it somewhere, and you said you’ll take anything, right?

Mark: (32:55)
Absolutely. So actually my business partner, Troy Evans, he’s the one who sent me a text and said, “Hey, ask if you can get that.”

That’s great.

Mark: (33:03)
Yeah. So-

Speaker 7: (33:03)
Who sent me a text and said, hey, ask if you can get that.

That’s great.

Speaker 7: (33:03)
Yeah. So, between him and Dr. Lance Bernadette, so I run some small businesses, having those and thanks to all of them as well. Right? So, 46 employees and all that. In order to do that, in order for me to do that and to be away, you have to have good people. And thank goodness I did.

Well, I want to thank you. That’s great. That’s really a great story to see somebody like you just not cold by the invisible enemy. Right? That was tougher than any football play you ever played. Right?

Speaker 7: (33:36)
That’s absolutely true.

And you played against some tough ones. I know you did.

Speaker 7: (33:39)
Yeah. There were some battles that weren’t so good for me, but I always kept fighting.

Yeah. You did a great job. Great job. Anybody can’t be in the NFL for ten years. That’s a big tribute. That’s not easy. You know how hard that is, right?

Speaker 7: (33:50)
Yeah. It’s a grind.

Everybody always, every year the new ones come along and you just stayed there. Ten years is a long time in the NFL. That’s a great tribute to you as a fighter. I want to thank everybody. This has been incredible. I thought this would be a five minute meeting, but I found each one of your stories so interesting. And hopefully the media can play some of these stories because they’re just… we’re going through something the likes of which, I guess, we’ve never seen. Maybe you go back to 1917, 1918. That was the big plague. That was a big one. And anywhere from, Mike, I guess, 75 to 100 million people died. It started here. It started in a certain location. I don’t want to say because I love that location so I’m not going to say it. But it started in this country and actually got brought to Europe. And Europe is where it did its… thousands of people died here, large numbers. But, in Europe, tens of millions of people died. So, we gave them no favor when whoever it is went over to Europe. Right? No favor.

But not since then have we seen anything like this. And we’re winning our battle. We’re winning our war. We’re going to be announcing some very good things in the near future. The American public has been great, far greater than anybody would have thought. They had minimum numbers of 100,000 and I think we’re going to beat that. 100,000 deaths, can you believe that? That was a minimum? And, if we didn’t practice what we practiced, and if we did it a different way, because we had a maximum of 2.2 million people, who knows even if that’s right. But the way I look at it, if you cut it in half and cut it in half again, it’s five or 600,000. That’s what we lost in the Civil War. That’s not acceptable.

So, we couldn’t have done it, to bull through, as we call it, to bull through it. Just like treat it like a flu, if we did that. So, we made the right moves. Now we have to get our country open again. You all know that.

But this was great. I thought… I was talking to Mike. I said, come on, this will take five minutes. And it’s taken a lot longer than five minutes. And that’s because I found it so interesting.

Mike Pence: (35:55)
It was great.

And really great. Mike, do you have something to say?

Mike Pence: (35:59)
I just want thank all of these courageous Americans. Thank you for being willing to be here and share your story. It is a tribute to your resilience. It’s tribute to those healthcare workers, Mark, that you were talking about that we’re there for you. And just the president and I wanted to have a chance to see all of you and let the country hear your stories. Because, while we rightly as a nation, reflect on the more than 23,000 Americans who have succumbed to the Coronavirus, as a tribute to our healthcare workers, we also do well to reflect on more than 44,000 Americans who have fully recovered. And you’re among them.

Mike Pence: (36:42)
And so, I want to thank you for sharing your story. It truly gives hope to families that are looking on who have a loved one who is struggling with Coronavirus today. And I just want to promise you that this president and this vice president and our entire White House Coronavirus Task Force are going to continue to work every day and have more stories like yours across this nation, until we put the Coronavirus in the past and eventually someday have a vaccine that ends this once and for all.

I think so. And I think we’re making a lot of progress on vaccines. We’re making a lot of progress on maybe a cure, meaning a pill. Because I think right now I’d like to have that more than the vaccine. The vaccine takes a little longer because they have to test it for a period of a year or more. And so, it’s something we’re going to come with. And I really think we’re making, therapeutically, we’re making tremendous, I think, tremendous progress, tremendous progress.

And we’re going to see whether or not, Mark, whether or not what you did and whether or not what Karen did, whether or not that’s a big part of the answer. But I think it could be a part of the answer. Let’s see, as one alternative. But we’re going to have numerous alternatives. There’s another one just came, the Gilead drug, remdesivir, just came out.

Speaker 8: (38:05)
Okay.

And it didn’t come out. It’s a highly sophisticated, very, very sophisticated treatment that seems to show good promise also.

Well, I want to thank you all. Jeff, could I ask you a question? You’re a great reporter and a nice man. Look at you with that mask. That’s good. You look very good. You actually much better I think. But what do I know?

Jeff: (38:26)
I try.

Am I allowed to take Karen over to see the White House doctors here? We can help her out a little bit with Lyme disease, because Lyme disease is a problem. And there are some answers. What do you think? Are you guys going to report me for being a horrible human being for doing something illegal, that I did something illegal?

Jeff: (38:45)
Definitely can.

And impeachable. You think they’ll impeach me because I tried to help her out with her Lyme disease? You think maybe? Because I’d like to do that. What do you think? Should I do it?

Jeff: (38:52)
I can’t advise you on that, sir. But I certainly hope-

They never like to take chances, but I do. So, we’ll take a chance on it. Okay? Thank you very much. We’re going to have a news conference a little bit later. We’re going to announce the groups of people that are going to be talking to us. We’ve made a lot of progress today. You see what’s happening with our bump, our big bump in the road. And our big bump is a lot less than a lot of people thought it would be because of the American people. They’ve been incredible. So, I just want to thank everybody.

We’ll have a news conference in a little while. We’re going to announce the people that we’ll be talking to. And I’m going to be making a decision pretty quickly. And it’s being done in conjunction with governors. We have tremendous support from governors. And what I do is going to be done in conjunction with governors. But we’ll be doing that in a little while, especially in terms of the people. We have a lot of great people in this country that know the different fields. And we have… a lot of skill is going to have to be used to get our country back to where it was. And we want to do it quickly, whether it’s restaurants, or whether it’s airplane business, or whether it’s a lot of other things. We have a lot of businesses. And we have the best people in every profession, including medical and including political. We have a political group too, a lot of great politicians. So, well some are great, some aren’t so great, but I put them on anyway. We want to have a sampling of everybody. So, we have a lot of talent.

I want to thank you all you. You folks are fantastic. And just get better. Get your job finished up. Okay? You’re there to be 100%. You look great. And thank you very much, Karen. You and your husband are going to come with me and I’m going to have you sent over to the White House doctor. They have really great doctors. They just wait for me. You know they say… they’re there for me, and for Mike too, I think.

Speaker 8: (40:42)
That’s good.

Are they there for you too? And, if anything should happen… it was very interesting. I was with somebody not so long ago and he fainted. And he had a bad… something happened to him. And it was at a certain location. And, within like a minute and a half, there were seven doctors standing over. They had oxygen. I said, I’ve never seen anything like it. So, they are prepared and they are great. And we’re going to take you over and maybe we can find something for you. Okay?

Speaker 8: (41:11)
That sounds great.

We’ll knock out two of them.

Speaker 8: (41:15)
Yeah. That’s great.

We’ll knock out two of them. Thank you all very much. We’ll see in a little while. Thank you. [crosstalk 00:41:20].

Paula: (41:23)
Do any of you have any reason to believe you are immune to this?

Speaker 9: (41:23)
Paula, we’re finished. Let’s go, Paula.

Paula: (41:23)
Are you concerned?

Speaker 9: (41:23)
We’re finished. Paula, we’re done. Let’s go.

Paula: (41:23)
You traveled pretty far into risk.

Speaker 9: (41:25)
Paula, let’s go.

Paula: (41:26)
Do any of you have reason to believe you’re immune?

Speaker 9: (41:28)
We’re finished. Paula, let’s go. We’re done.

Speaker 10: (41:32)
Thank you, sir.

Speaker 9: (41:33)
Please, keep going. Let’s move.

Thank you.

Speaker 11: (41:33)
Thank you.

Thank you.

Speaker 12: (41:33)
Thank you.

Thank you. God bless.

Speaker 12: (41:33)
Thank you.

Speaker 9: (41:44)
You’re welcome.

Transcript: Donald Trump Meets with Recovered COVID-19 Patients

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