Trump Advice “Don’t Be Afraid of COVID” Has Pandemic Survivors Livid
The coronavirus-infected Donald Trump’s Monday afternoon tweet advising the public “don’t be afraid of Covid. Don’t let it dominate your life” isn’t going over well with pandemic survivors.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1313186529058136070?s=20
Scott Sedlacek, a 64-year-old who recovered after contracting COVID-19 in March, is still traumatized by his bout with the illness. Sedlacek told The Associated Press that when he heard Trump’s advice by Tweet and video on Monday not to fear the disease — as well as the president’s insistence on riding in a motorcade outside Walter Reed Medical Center and returning to the White House while still infectious — he was enraged.
“I’m so glad that he appears to be doing well, that he has doctors who can give him experimental drugs that aren’t available to the masses,” Sedlacek said. “For the rest of us, who are trying to protect ourselves, that behavior is an embarrassment.”
Marc Papaj lost his mother, grandmother and aunt to COVID-19. The Seneca Nation member who lives in Orchard Park, NY, finds it tough to follow the president’s advice not to let the virus “dominate your life.”
“The loss of my dearest family members will forever dominate my life in every way for all of my days,” Papaj said, adding this about Trump: “He does not care about any of us — he’s feeling good.”
Candy Boyd, owner of Boyd Funeral Home in Los Angeles, which serves many Black families, said Trump’s comments were infuriating and an “example of him not living in reality.” While the funeral home receives fewer virus victims now than it did in the spring, when it was several a day, people continue to die, she said.
“We have people dying and this is a joke to him,” Boyd said. “I don’t take that lightly. This is sad. This is absurd.”
Mia Farrow had this succinct response:
Each chair represents 10 people who died from covid. “Don’t be afraid of Covid” pic.twitter.com/BnL7OozCI2
— Mia Farrow (@MiaFarrow) October 6, 2020