NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- President Donald Trump was seen waving to supporters outside Walter Reed Medical Center on Sunday evening hours after his doctors said he was “doing well with only mild symptoms” and that they were hopeful he could be discharged back to the White House as soon as Monday.
On Sunday evening, Trump posted a video to Twitter in which he thanked the staff at Walter Reed and said he would be paying a “little surprise visit” to supporters outside the hospital.
“I think we’re going to pay a little surprise to the great patriots that we have out on the street. And they’ve been out there for a long time, and they’ve got Trump flags and they love our country, so I’m not telling anybody, but I’m about to make a little surprise visit.”
Minutes later, video showed a masked Trump waving to supporters from the backseat of an SUV outside the hospital.
In the Twitter video posted Sunday evening, Trump also said he has "learned a lot about COVID" by going to "the real school."
"It’s been a very interesting journey," he said. "I learned a lot about COVID. I learned it by really going to school. This is the real school. This isn’t the, ‘Let’s read the book’ school. And I get it. And I understand it. And it’s a very interesting thing."
On Sunday morning, the president’s physician, Dr. Sean Conley, said that Trump "continues to improve" and has remained without a fever since Friday morning.
Conley said the president's blood oxygen levels dropped suddenly on Saturday but that his vitals were stable and that he wasn’t complaining of shortness of breath or other respiratory problems Sunday.
The president had a “high fever” and a blood oxygen level below 94% on Friday and again on Saturday, Conley said. The level currently stands at 98% and Trump “has continued to improve.”
“He is walking around the White House medical unit without limitation,” Conley said.
Dr. Brian Garibaldi said Trump completed his second dose of Remdesivir on Saturday and “tolerated that infusion well.”
Garibaldi said doctors planned to use a five-day course of Remdesivir.
“If he continues to look and feel as well as he does today, our hope is that we can plan for a discharge as early as tomorrow to the White House, where he can continue his treatment course,” Garibaldi said.
In a memorandum released by the White House Saturday night, Conley said Trump, who tested positive for COVID-19 Thursday and checked into Walter Reed Medical Center the following day, "continues to do well."
"While not yet out of the woods, the team remains cautiously optimistic," Conley wrote. "The plan for tomorrow is to continue observation in between doses of Remdesivir, closely monitoring his clinical status while fully supporting his conduct of Presidential duties."
In a video from the hospital Saturday night, Trump said that he was "starting to feel good" but that "the real test" would be in the next few days as he continues to battle COVID-19.
“I just want to tell you that I’m starting to feel good,” he said. “You don’t know over the next period of a few days. I guess that’s the real test. So, we’ll be seeing what happens over those next couple of days.”
The president also gave an update on first lady Melania Trump, who has COVID-19 as well.
“We’re both doing well. Melania is really handling it very nicely. As you’ve probably read, she’s slightly younger than me, just a little tiny bit,” the president said.
Trump tweeted again Sunday, thanking supporters outside the hospital.
On Saturday, Conley repeatedly refused to say whether the president ever needed supplemental oxygen, despite repeated questioning, and declined to share key details, including how high a fever Trump had been running before it came back down to a normal range. Conley also revealed that Trump had begun exhibiting “clinical indications” of COVID-19 on Thursday afternoon, earlier than previously known.
Conley spent much of the briefing dodging reporters' questions as he was pressed for details.
“Thursday, no oxygen. None at this moment. And yesterday with the team, while we were all here, he was not on oxygen,” Conley said.
But a person familiar with Trump’s condition told the Associated Press that the president was administered oxygen at the White House on Friday morning, before he was transported to the military hospital by helicopter that evening.
Chief of Staff Mark Meadows also painted a less rosy assessment for reporters Saturday: “The president’s vitals over the last 24 hours were very concerning and the next 48 hours will be critical in terms of his care. We’re still not on a clear path to a full recovery.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.