--- title: Trump Suffered 2 Low Oxygen Bouts, Could Be Discharged Monday description: President Donald Trump is currently being treated with the steroid dexamethasone after experiencing two episodes of low oxygen levels. canonical: https://time.com/5896203/trump-covid-19-physician-white-house-briefing-oxygen-dexamethasone/ author: Tara Law article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2020-10-04T18:08:34.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-24T09:16:59.597Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump Suffered 2 Low Oxygen Bouts, Could Be Discharged Monday og:description: White House physician Sean Conley continued to avoid directly answering a few crucial questions about Trump's health og:url: https://time.com/5896203/trump-covid-19-physician-white-house-briefing-oxygen-dexamethasone/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt167cdb584ced2fef/698a12d3929fad398fbf69dc/Conley-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5568 og:image:height: 3132 og:image:alt: US-VOTE-HEALTH-VIRUS-TRUMP-CONLEY og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Suffered 2 Low Oxygen Bouts, Could Be Discharged Monday twitter:description: White House physician Sean Conley continued to avoid directly answering a few crucial questions about Trump's health twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt167cdb584ced2fef/698a12d3929fad398fbf69dc/Conley-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Doctors Say President Donald Trump Suffered Two Bouts of Low Oxygen, But Could Leave Hospital Monday > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Tara Law](https://time.com/author/tara-law/)  ## Tara Law Oct 4, 2020 6:08 PM UTC  White House physician Sean Conley answers questions surrounded by other doctors, during an update on the condition of US President Donald Trump, on October 4, at Walter Reed Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. White House physician Sean Conley answers questions surrounded by other doctors, during an update on the condition of US President Donald Trump, on October 4, at Walter Reed Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI / Contributor  by [Tara Law](https://time.com/author/tara-law/)  ## Tara Law Oct 4, 2020 6:08 PM UTC President Donald Trump is currently being treated with the steroid dexamethasone after experiencing two episodes of low oxygen levels, his medical team told reporters on Sunday. However, he could be discharged for treatment at the White House as soon as tomorrow, a physician said. During a press conference at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Sunday morning, the President’s medical team shared more details about Trump’s treatment for COVID-19\. After yesterday’s briefing, White House physician Sean Conley was [criticized](https://time.com/5895933/trump-coronavirus-doctor-hospitalized/) for apparently evading questions. Today, he continued to avoid directly answering crucial questions about the President’s illness, including whether the Trump has suffered damage to his lungs. Conley acknowledged that the President experienced two periods of low oxygen levels. The first episode was on late Friday morning, when Conley said the President was running a high fever and oxygen levels below 94%, but did not feel short of breath. The President was then put on oxygen, and his oxygen saturation levels soon rose to over 95%, Conley said. Then on Saturday, the President’s oxygen levels dipped to about 93%, Conley said. As a result of the periods of low oxygen, the President’s medical team decided to treat Trump with dexamethasone, said Dr. Brian Garibaldi, a pulmonary and critical care specialist from Johns Hopkins University. The National Institutes of Health [recommends](https://www.covid19treatmentguidelines.nih.gov/immune-based-therapy/immunomodulators/corticosteroids/) the drug for hospitalized COVID-19 patients who require supplemental oxygen or are on ventilators. The President also received a second dose of remdesivir, an anti-viral drug, last night, and his doctors have not detected side effects, Garibaldi said. Garibaldi added that the President “feels well” today, and that if he continues to look and feel as well as he does today, he could be discharged as soon as tomorrow. **Read more:** [_What If Trump’s Condition Worsens?_](https://time.com/5895938/not-on-a-clear-path-to-a-full-recovery-what-happens-if-trumps-condition-worsens/?utm%5Fsource=roundup&campaign=coronavirus) _∙_ [_Mike Pence Steps Into the Spotlight_](https://time.com/5895996/mike-pence-trump-hospitalized/?utm%5Fsource=roundup&campaign=coronavirus) _∙_ [_Physician Briefing Raises More Questions Than Answers_](https://time.com/5895933/trump-coronavirus-doctor-hospitalized/?utm%5Fsource=roundup&campaign=coronavirus) _∙_ [_Trump’s Unique COVID-19 Treatment_](https://time.com/5895846/trump-covid-19-treatment/?utm%5Fsource=roundup&campaign=coronavirus) _∙_ [_White House’s Silence Worries Diplomats_](https://time.com/5895857/diplomats-worry-trump-health/?utm%5Fsource=roundup&campaign=coronavirus) _∙_ [_U.S. Adversaries Exploiting Trump’s Illness_](https://time.com/5895614/cascade-of-misinformation-u-s-adversaries-are-exploiting-trumps-illness-and-the-white-house-isnt-helping/?utm%5Fsource=roundup&campaign=coronavirus) _∙_ [_How Trump’s Diagnosis Could Change the Campaign_](https://time.com/5895539/donald-trump-covid-19-presidential-race/?utm%5Fsource=roundup&campaign=coronavirus) _∙_ [_Aides Wonder If More Could Have Been Done to Protect Trump_](https://time.com/5895780/president-donald-trumps-hospitalized-covid/?utm%5Fsource=roundup&campaign=coronavirus) _∙_ [_What to Know About Regeneron_](https://time.com/5895771/trump-regeneron-covid-cocktail/?utm%5Fsource=roundup&campaign=coronavirus) _∙_ [_Where Trump Has Been Since Monday_](https://time.com/5895546/donald-trump-covid-19-timeline/?utm%5Fsource=roundup&campaign=coronavirus) _∙_ [_At 74, President Trump Is at Higher Risk of COVID-19 Complications_](https://time.com/5895439/trump-covid-19-coronavirus-age/?utm%5Fsource=roundup&campaign=coronavirus) _∙_ During the press conference Conley also addressed his previous reluctance to say whether the President had even been placed on oxygen over the course of his illness. Hours after yesterday’s conference, [the Associated Press reported](https://apnews.com/article/election-2020-virus-outbreak-donald-trump-elections-campaigns-08fcfd3778ca3bbabd011307cf23dc8d) that the President had been put on supplemental oxygen on Friday. “I was trying to reflect the upbeat attitude that the team, the President, that his course of illness has had,” Conley said. “I didn’t want to give any information that might steer the course of illness in another direction and in doing so it came off that we were trying to hide something, which wasn’t necessarily true.” However, on Sunday Conley again omitted additional details about Trump’s condition. He said the physicians are “tracking” whether the President has pneumonia or lung damage, but did not explain specifically what doctors had discovered, stating, “There are some expected findings, but nothing of any major clinical concern.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5896203/trump-covid-19-physician-white-house-briefing-oxygen-dexamethasone/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5896203/trump-covid-19-physician-white-house-briefing-oxygen-dexamethasone/"},"headline":"Doctors Say President Donald Trump Suffered Two Bouts of Low Oxygen, But Could Leave Hospital Monday","datePublished":"2020-10-04T18:08:34.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-24T09:16:59.597Z","description":"White House physician Sean Conley continued to avoid directly answering a few crucial questions about Trump's health","url":"https://time.com/5896203/trump-covid-19-physician-white-house-briefing-oxygen-dexamethasone/","keywords":["White House"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt167cdb584ced2fef/698a12d3929fad398fbf69dc/Conley-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tara Law","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tara-law/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt167cdb584ced2fef/698a12d3929fad398fbf69dc/Conley-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US-VOTE-HEALTH-VIRUS-TRUMP-CONLEY","caption":"US-VOTE-HEALTH-VIRUS-TRUMP-CONLEY","creditText":"BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI / Contributor","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5896203/trump-covid-19-physician-white-house-briefing-oxygen-dexamethasone/","name":"Doctors Say President Donald Trump Suffered Two Bouts of Low Oxygen, But Could Leave Hospital Monday"}}]}] ```