PM Johnson moved to intensive care as COVID-19 symptoms worsen

[webfact]

PM Johnson moved to intensive care as COVID-19 symptoms worsen

By Paul Sandle, Costas Pitas and Kylie MacLellan

 

FILE PHOTO: Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson leaves Downing Street, as the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues. London, Britain, March 25, 2020. REUTERS/Hannah Mckay/File Photo

 

LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was moved to an intensive care unit on Monday after his coronavirus symptoms worsened though his Downing Street office said he was still conscious.

 

Britain has no formal succession plan should the prime minister become incapacitated, but Johnson, 55, has asked Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab to deputise for him.

 

Johnson, 55, was admitted to hospital on Sunday night and had been undergoing tests after suffering persistent coronavirus symptoms, including a high temperature, for more than 10 days.

 

Downing Street had said he was in good spirits and still in charge, though his condition deteriorated in the early evening and he was transferred at about 1800 GMT to an intensive care unit - where the most serious cases are treated - at St Thomas' hospital in central London.

 

Johnson received oxygen, a source said.

 

"Over the course of this afternoon, the condition of the Prime Minister has worsened and, on the advice of his medical team, he has been moved to the Intensive Care Unit at the hospital," a spokesman for his office said.

 

"The PM has asked Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, who is the First Secretary of State, to deputise for him where necessary," Downing Street said. "The PM remains conscious at this time."

 

Downing Street said he had been moved to the intensive care unit as "a precaution should he require ventilation to aid his recovery".

 

Queen Elizabeth had been kept informed by Downing Street, Buckingham Palace said.

 

Sterling fell by nearly a cent against the U.S. dollar on the news about Johnson. The pound fell to as low as $1.221, from $1.230 earlier.

 

Johnson tested positive for the virus on March 26 but after 10 days of isolation in an apartment at Downing Street, he was still fighting the virus on Sunday evening with a high temperature and persistent cough.

 

His spokesman had earlier refused to answer directly after being asked whether he had pneumonia. But his move to intensive care confirmed the gravity of the situation.

 

"There is no doubt this turn of events means Boris Johnson is extremely sick," said Derek Hill, a professor of medical imaging at University College London (UCL).

 

"One of the features of COVID-19 in all countries seems to be that many more men become seriously ill than women - especially in the over 40 age group. Also we know that people under about 60 seem to have a higher chance of making a recovery from critical illness with COVID-19 than older people.

 

British politicians and world leaders wished Johnson well. U.S. President Donald Trump said all Americans were praying for his recovery.

 

"He's been really something very special - strong, resolute, doesn’t quit, doesn't give up," Trump told a news briefing, adding he had asked two pharmaceutical firms developing potential COVID-19 therapies to get in touch with the British government to offer their services.

 

"We've contacted all of Boris' doctors and we'll see what is going to take place," he said. "But they are ready to go."

 

RAAB DEPUTISES

Stand-in leader Raab, 46, said the British government would continue to make sure Johnson's plans for defeating the coronavirus outbreak were carried out while he receives treatment.

 

"The government's business will continue," Raab told reporters.

 

"The prime minister is in safe hands ... and the focus of the government will continue to be on making sure that the prime minister's direction, all the plans for making sure that we can defeat coronavirus and can pull the country through this challenge, will be taken forward."

 

Raab, the son of a Czech-born Jewish refugee who fled the Nazis in 1938, was brought up in the southern English region of Buckinghamshire and studied law at Oxford University before becoming a lawyer working on project finance, international litigation and competition law.

 

A karate black belt, he was appointed as foreign minister in Johnson's first cabinet after the prime minister took office in July 2019.

 

Asked at a news conference earlier on Monday whether he had been in touch with Johnson on Monday by either text or by telephone, Raab said he had last spoken to the prime minister on Saturday.

 

CORONAVIRUS IN THE UK

On March 27, Johnson became the first leader of a major power to announce that he had tested positive for COVID-19.

 

Medics said patients with COVID-19 can deteriorate after about 10 days, with some developing pneumonia.

 

Johnson, who is not a smoker, said recently that he wanted to lose weight. He plays tennis and while mayor of London used to cycle around the capital.

 

The face of the 2016 Brexit campaign, he won a resounding election victory in December before leading the United Kingdom out of the European Union on Jan. 31.

 

He has faced criticism for initially approving a much more modest response to the new coronavirus outbreak than other European leaders, saying on March 3 that he had been shaking hands with coronavirus patients.

 

He changed tack when scientific projections showed a quarter of a million people could die in the United Kingdom. On Monday, health officials said Britain's death toll stood at 5,373.

 

Johnson effectively shuttered the world's fifth-largest economy, advising people to stay at home and the elderly or infirm to isolate themselves for weeks.

 

The virus had already penetrated the British government.

 

Johnson and his health minister tested positive last month and chief medical adviser Chris Whitty also self-isolated. Johnson's pregnant 32-year-old fiancée, Carrie Symonds, also had symptoms but said on Saturday she was feeling better.

 

(Additional reporting by Elizabeth Piper, Kate Holton, William James, Elizabeth Howcroft, Michael Holden and Jeff Mason; Editing by Guy Faulconbridge, Kevin Liffey and Howard Goller)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-04-07

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[daveAustin]

Hopefully precautionary. All the best, Boris. 

[AlexRich]

I watched him outside no 10 clapping the NHS workers and he looked awful. So I’m not really surprised by this. I’m not a great fan but I wish him well.

[Jingthing]

Wish him a quick recovery of course but it has to be said, he should not have kept working after his diagnosis. Nobody should. What's called for is rest even if you're a PM. 

[scubascuba3]

Scary illness with no cure just treatments which may or may not work. Just shows any of us could get a bad case

[champers]

Statistics dont sit in his favour, taking into account he is forty pounds overweight for someone his age. I wish him well.

[donnacha]

3 minutes ago, champers said:

Statistics dont sit in his favour, taking into account he is forty pounds overweight for someone his age. I wish him well.

Yes. Only 55 years old should go in his favour, though.

You have to figure, too, that he is a fairly determined bloke, and probably getting a lot more attention than most patients. More than just one man's live is at stake here.

 

[PhilAtUbon]

31 minutes ago, donnacha said:

Yes. Only 55 years old should go in his favour, though.

You have to figure, too, that he is a fairly determined bloke, and probably getting a lot more attention than most patients. More than just one man's live is at stake here.

 

In all the reports I am seeing and hearing, the hospital staff and medical authorities have gone to great lengths to emphasise that ALL patients are treated in strict accordance to laid down triage procedure. 

Whether king or pauper, they are treated according to their requirements.

 

He might be offered spiced peaches for pudding, but whether or not he can accept them is another matter.

But he will have the same ventilators as all the other folks in the hospital.

 

Bozzer is very ill.

Big time ????

 

 

 

Edited April 6, 2020 by PhilAtUbon

[UbonThani]

Why is a pm not social distancing? It seems the advice he received early was wrong.

 

Hope he recovers.

[balo]

He will make it for sure, the best doctors in England will make sure he will.  

[donnacha]

14 minutes ago, Forethat said:

Here's my comment regarding your factually incorrect post:

Interesting that you posted no screenshot of your post after that one. I can understand why.

Your unprovoked attack on me was because you felt I was spreading rumors and hysteria. You failed to understand that I was analyzing the situation - you know, using actual thought - and explaining why the official story was designed to initially obscure but, then, slowly build up to the truth in order to minimize the adverse public reaction.

In a nutshell, I said that there was no way they would be admitting him to hospital at all unless they had absolutely no other options left. Sadly, this meant that, regardless of how they were spinning it, Boris was heading to intensive care. You, by contrast, bought the official story and, as shown in your screenshot, guessed that he was probably just getting this chest x-rayed. 

I have no quarrel with you. My analysis was 100% correct, and for exactly the reasons I laid out. That is enough for me.

You were wrong, and it is up to you to decide if you are man enough to own that. 

 

Edited April 6, 2020 by donnacha

[Forethat]

Just now, donnacha said:

I have no quarrel with you. My analysis was 100% right, and for exactly the reasons I laid out. That is enough for me.

You were wrong, and it is up to you to decide if you are man enough to own that. 

 

Your analysis was 100% hogwash.  You said that he was almost certainly on a ventilator. He still isn't on a ventilator. In fact, your original post was the best example I've seen of tabloid-level BS on this forum. I'll say it again:

You know NOTHING. 

 

And instead you start hurling insults including imaginary facial tattoos and lie about what you actually wrote? 

Some people...

[donnacha]

6 minutes ago, Forethat said:

You said that he was almost certainly on a ventilator. He still isn't on a ventilator.

What, exactly, do you think intensive care for a severe respiratory condition consists of?

Perhaps you could stop digging and just google that.

Seriously, I have no quarrel with you. At a time like this, your thuggish behavior is unseemly, and your inability to accept that you made a mistake is embarrassing. I feel bad for you and am trying to help you here. Shall we just agree to disagree?

 

Edited April 6, 2020 by donnacha

[Forethat]

2 minutes ago, donnacha said:

What, exactly, do you think intensive care for a severe respiratory condition consists of?

Perhaps you could stop digging and just google that.

Seriously, I have no quarrel with you. At a time like this, your thuggish behavior is unseemly, and your inability to accept that you made a mistake is embarrassing. I'm trying to help you here. Shall we just agree to disagree?

 

Admitted to an Intensive Care Unit and being put on a ventilator are two different things. Glad that you have now googled that so you can admit your error. 

 

He's still not on a ventilator.

[Forethat]

7 minutes ago, donnacha said:

Seriously, I have no quarrel with you. At a time like this, your thuggish behavior is unseemly, and your inability to accept that you made a mistake is embarrassing. I feel bad for you and am trying to help you here. Shall we just agree to disagree?

So let's sum it up.

You lie about what you wrote.

You lie about what I wrote

You hurl insults in one of the most disgusting ways I've seen on this forum

 

And all of this because I have pointed out your factually incorrect statements? And I am the one being thuggish?

Edited April 6, 2020 by Forethat

[donnacha]

1 minute ago, Forethat said:

Admitted to an Intensive Care Unit and being put on a ventilator are two different things. Glad that you have now googled that so you can admit your error. 

 

He's still not on a ventilator.

Your trust in the official narrative, despite it changing every day, is touching.

So, what are you going to do tomorrow, when they reveal that, yes, he is on a ventilator?

Are you going to return to this thread and apologize, profusely, for failing to absorb what I have been saying clearly and repeatedly: that the news is being managed by drip-feeding a few details at a time, but that we can already logically deduce what is happening.

Of course you won't. You will disappear and pretend you never took the ridiculous position you are now so vehemently defending.
 

[PhilAtUbon]

@Forethat @donnacha 

Please guys, stop it. Concentrate on the news please

It is rather important to some of us.

 

 

[PatOngo]

37 minutes ago, Forethat said:

Hogwash! And you are not even man enough to admit it, instead you lie about it openly. 

Now now girls! No scratching or hair pulling, OK!

[Forethat]

4 minutes ago, PhilAtUbon said:

@Forethat @donnacha 

Please guys, stop it. Concentrate on the news please

It is rather important to some of us.

 

 

I'm sorry, you will have to direct that request to the person in need of stopping. Not me.

[Forethat]

15 minutes ago, donnacha said:

Your trust in the official narrative, despite it changing every day, is touching.

So, what are you going to do tomorrow, when they reveal that, yes, he is on a ventilator?

Are you going to return to this thread and apologize, profusely, for failing to absorb what I have been saying clearly and repeatedly: that the news is being managed by drip-feeding a few details at a time, but that we can already logically deduce what is happening.

Of course you won't. You will disappear and pretend you never took the ridiculous position you are now so vehemently defending.
 

Next time, read my posts before commenting.

 

I wrote:

Quote

BJ could be on a ventilator. Or not. But the truth is you nothing about it. You don't know if he is. You don't know if he will be. Yet you claim to be certain he is.

To put it frank, the only thing certain is that you know nothing.

 

 

[faraday]

He was admitted to hospital to be given oxygen. That will have been administered via a nasal cannula, or a mask.

 

He is now in ICU, as his condition has worsened, & I very strongly suspect that he will be on a Ventilator soon.

 

If a patient is Ventilated & makes a normal recovery, they are not left with any brain damage or any other debililatating ailments caused by being intubated.

 

Boris is very ill, I fear the worst, I hope I'm wrong.

 

Lastly, stop the arguments. If you do post something, just stick to the facts.

 

 

[katana]

Best of luck to Boris for a speedy recovery.

Here's a video explaining what happens when Covid 19 gets on your lungs and you get pneumonia, which seems to be what's happened.

 

Edited April 6, 2020 by katana

[PhilAtUbon]

4 minutes ago, faraday said:

He was admitted to hospital to be given oxygen. That will have been administered via a nasal cannula, or a mask.

 

He is now in ICU, as his condition has worsened, & I very strongly suspect that he will be on a Ventilator soon.

 

If a patient is Ventilated & makes a normal recovery, they are not left with any brain damage or any other debililatating ailments caused by being intubated.

 

Boris is very ill, I fear the worst, I hope I'm wrong.

 

Lastly, stop the arguments. If you do post something, just stick to the facts.

 

 

Thank you faraday.

 

There are some people in this world who consider this to be a tiddly bit of a crisis. 

A certain degree of solemnity and decorum may be appreciated in some quarters.

 

 

[Forethat]

18 minutes ago, faraday said:

He was admitted to hospital to be given oxygen. That will have been administered via a nasal cannula, or a mask.

 

He is now in ICU, as his condition has worsened, & I very strongly suspect that he will be on a Ventilator soon.

 

If a patient is Ventilated & makes a normal recovery, they are not left with any brain damage or any other debililatating ailments caused by being intubated.

 

Boris is very ill, I fear the worst, I hope I'm wrong.

 

Lastly, stop the arguments. If you do post something, just stick to the facts.

 

 

I'm sorry, but in the name of facts it should be mentioned that there are numerous known side effects involved when mechanically ventilating someone. Mental dysfunction being one of them.

 

I mean, If we are to stick to the facts.

 

I'll point you in the right direction.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5799149/

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1301372

Edited April 6, 2020 by Forethat

[JonnyF]

Very sad to hear these developments.

 

Hope his condition improves soon. 

[AlexRich]

45 minutes ago, Forethat said:

Admitted to an Intensive Care Unit and being put on a ventilator are two different things. Glad that you have now googled that so you can admit your error. 

 

He's still not on a ventilator.

A medical specialist quoted in the Mirror said it was “highly likely” that he would end up on a ventilator. I’m guessing that those who require oxygen at this stage of the illness swiftly progress to ventilation. I wish him well but I don’t think this looks good.

[Somtamnication]

Can't celebrate Brexit without him. Get well soon!

[champers]

From what I have read, if you are not going on a ventilator there is no need to be in an ICU.

[faraday]

Thank you for the information.

 

Your tone was unnecessary - you know exactly what I mean.

 

@Forethat

[Forethat]

4 minutes ago, faraday said:

Thank you for the information.

 

Your tone was unnecessary - you know exactly what I mean.

 

@Forethat

Yes, I know exactly what you mean. You meant that If a patient is "ventilated & makes a normal recovery, they are not left with any brain damage or any other debililatating ailments caused by being intubated."

 

But that's incorrect. There are severe risks and side effects involved with sedating the patient and the patient OFTEN experience cognitive dysfunctions. Often. Even at a fully restored breathing and early weaning there is a big chance of negative cognitive effects.