Democratic Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders addresses attendees during the AFL-CIO Workers Presidential Summit in Philadelphia, Penn., September 17, 2019. (Mark Makela/Reuters)

Yesterday brought the dramatic news of Bernie Sanders’ surgery and hospitalization and simultaneous news that the campaign had postponed some commercial ad purchases. This fueled speculation that Sanders 2020 might not be around for much longer. Separately, Slate ran a column by Dr. Jeremy Samuel Faust, an instructor at Harvard Medical School, looking at the publicly released information and concluding, “this was very likely a heart attack.” Faust concludes that if Sanders did not suffer a heart attack, he suffered “unstable angina,” which is basically knocking on the door of a heart attack. Faust wrote that the Sanders campaign would not answer his question on the record. He concludes:

Given that Sanders is running for president at the age of 78, I’d suggest it is perfectly reasonable to want to know whether he has just experienced a heart attack and how extensive the damage was. Patients who have had heart attacks have lower life expectancies and are far more likely to have strokes. If he’s going to continue in the race, he certainly should expect to disclose a bit more information about his health.

Beyond the hospital, the Sanders campaign is operating as if they expect Sanders to be back on the trail in the near future. In Virginia, the Bernie Sanders campaign is still hosting a “Bernie on the Ballot” event for Saturday and is emailing reminders.