I will be leaving the great Walter Reed Medical Center today at 6:30 P.M. Feeling really good! Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don’t let it dominate your life. We have developed, under the Trump Administration, some really great drugs & knowledge. I feel better than I did 20 years ago!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 5, 2020

NBC News reports:

Trump received the first dose of the steroid Saturday and will be on it for “the time being,” Conley said.

Dexamethasone has been shown to be beneficial in those with severe Covid-19 because it can stop the immune system from going into overdrive. When that happens, the immune system can do more harm than good, attacking the body in what is called a cytokine storm.

However, the drug is not recommended for more mild cases of the disease.

“The fact that he got the steroid sets up a bit of a red flag that there’s something going on here,” NBC News senior medical correspondent Dr. John Torres told Kate Snow on Sunday. “I think they might be painting a little bit of a rosy picture for everyone.”

The treatment was first shown to be helpful in June in clinical trials in the U.K. Preliminary results of the trial published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that the steroid reduced the risk of death in patients with severe Covid-19 who need supplemental oxygen. But for mild cases, the treatment can be harmful.

“However, there was no evidence that dexamethasone provided any benefit among patients who were not receiving respiratory support at randomization, and the results were consistent with possible harm in this subgroup,” the researchers wrote.

The National Institutes of Health guidelines for the drug reflect those findings, stating that dexamethasone should be given only to patients who are on ventilators or need supplemental oxygen. They do not recommend using it for those with less serious illness because of the potential for harm. [Continue reading…]