UTEP professor says Trump’s recovery from virus is exciting for scientists to watch

EL PASO, Texas -- President Trump’s now back at the White House and working from the Oval Office after testing positive for Covid-19 and seeking treatment at Walter Reed Medical Center.

While some in the medical community say the commander-in-chief left the hospital too soon, a molecular viral biologist in El Paso says the progress Trump is showing is exciting for scientists studying Covid-19.

“It’s definitely on the right track,” said Prof. German Rosas Acosta, who teaches molecular biology at UTEP.

He, along with the medical community and other scientists, are keeping a close watch on Trump’s recovery.

The president was monitored there for three days and showed signs of recovery before being released.

However, Acosta says the president received treatment that few other people with the same diagnosis get.

Trump’s doctors say he was given a combination of the anti-viral drug Remdesivir, along with a series of other medications.

“The next week will be absolutely critical in determining which evolution is going to be seen in his disease progression,” said Acosta.

The nation watched after Trump left the hospital, going up the White House steps and then taking off his mask.

ABC-7 asked Acosta if this was an acceptable thing for an infected person to do.

“I don’t think it is the best thing to do because, number one, you’re still infectious. You are still making viruses and you don’t want to be releasing viruses to the environment,” said Acosta.

Facebook took down a post allegedly authored by the president essentially saying the flu is more dangerous than Covid-19. Acosta points out the seasonal flu is not more lethal than Covid-19. However,“there are other strains of influenza that are definitely a lot more pathogenic and a lot more deadly than Covid-19. But none of those have become pandemic recently,” added the professor.

Acosta points to H5N1, transmitted from birds to humans and which showed a fatality rate of about 50 percent. But that flu never gained the ability to be passed on from human to human.