Rep. Whitsett, ex-UM football player talk hydroxychloroquine with Trump

Michigan State Rep. Karen Whitsett and former University of Michigan tight end Mark Campbell joined President Donald Trump at the White House for a Tuesday meeting of COVID-19 survivors.

Whitsett, D-Detroit, has praised the Republican president in recent weeks for advocating for the use of the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine, which she was prescribed after being diagnosed with COVID-19. 

Whitsett said Tuesday her condition “went from 0 to 100” after taking the drug and said, prior to the medication, “I was afraid for my life,” according to pool reports. 

Whitsett was prescribed for the drug after entering a Michigan Urgent Care with coronavirus symptoms and an underlying condition.

The owner of the urgent care — Michigan State Medical Society President Dr. Mohammed Arsiwala —prescribed her an antibiotic and hydroxychloroquine.

Trump told Whitsett she had “a beautiful presence” and promised to connect her to White House doctors for her pre-existing Lyme Disease. 

The president said he wouldn’t ask her whom she planned to vote for, but noted “I don’t see her voting for Sleepy Joe Biden,” the presumptive Democratic Party nominee.

Former Wolverine Mark Campbell, who played alongside quarterback Tom Brady at UM, told Trump he believed he contracted COVID-19 after touching a gasoline pump on his way Up North. Campbell told Trump he received drive through testing and had a temperature of 102.6 degrees before he asked his doctors for “the malaria drug.”

“This little bug knocked the hell out of you?” Trump asked. 

Campbell said he should have gone to the hospital sooner but “the athlete in me … it kinda worked against me here.”

eleblanc@detroitnews.com