ST. LOUIS — President Donald Trump is in what's known as a "high risk" category for COVID-19.
He was recently diagnosed with the virus.
According to the CDC, both age and weight determine this.
President Trump is 74 years old.
Dr. Jason Newland, an infectious disease doctor says, "President Trump being in his 70s, that is automatically in the high risk groups."
As you get older, the risk of getting severely ill from COVID-19 increases.
According to the CDC, 8 out of 10 COVID-19-related deaths reported in the U.S. have been among adults 65 years and older.
Another factor? His weight.
"President Trump is one would say fits as obesity but he’s not one these severe classes of obesity that we’ve seen in higher risks, but it is apart of the risk factor. That’s something that concerns all of us when your President has this illness," Dr. Newland says.
Dr. Newland says everyone could react to COVID-19 differently.
He adds most people see mild symptoms, just like President Trump is now.
But that could change.
"He has mild symptoms now and we do know that the severe symptoms do not begin until maybe a week or 10 days later. There’s a small portion in these risk groups that can have a very severe disease," Dr. Newland says.
Why some may see more severities than others? It's hard to pinpoint, Dr. Newland said.
"Why that is for some and others is we don’t know, but that likely is a lot related to our immune system," he added.
But for now, Dr. Newland hopes President Trump can recover and he wants to remind everyone, to continue practicing the safety guidelines.
"Our President and our First Lady have COVID-19 and we should hope for the best and thankfully we have a lot more ability to treat and care for them," Dr. Newland states.
