//Trump wants to get back to the Oval Office. He may still be contagious.

Trump wants to get back to the Oval Office. He may still be contagious.

President Donald Trump removes his mask upon returning to the White House from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Washington, DC, on October 5. | Win McNamee/Getty Images

There’s no clinically validated test to measure a patient’s Covid-19 infectiousness.

There’s a lot we still don’t know about President Trump’s Covid-19 case, starting with the basics: Is he having trouble breathing? Is he experiencing side effects, such as delirium or confusion, from the multiple experimental drugs for Covid-19 he’s taking? When was his last negative coronavirus test?

There’s another burning question about Trump’s health that matters more for the people around him, including his family members and staff at the White House who haven’t yet tested positive: Is the president still contagious?

Patients who have been diagnosed with Covid-19 are supposed to — per Centers of Disease Control and Prevention guidelines