When I learned that Donald Trump is infected with COVID-19, I did not have the normal reaction that I would have, as a doctor, to an overweight septuagenarian getting infected with this deadly virus. Instead, I immediately thought of the positives that could come out of this. Not because I revel in suffering but precisely because I ardently desire millions more people to avoid the death and disability that this virus invites. A virus that snuffs out life indiscriminately. Or perhaps a little too discriminatingly in certain populations, most of whom are not represented in the Trump inner circle.

Maybe Donald and Melania will finally, though inadvertently, be the effective spokespeople for this virus that reason, logic, science, compassion and morality dictated that they be 200,000 lives ago. Perhaps this will be the wake-up call that the tens of millions who adore him, who hang on his every word, who look to him for guidance and leadership, so much so that they are willing to consider ingesting bleach, will heed.

Maybe, just maybe, this is the jolt of reality that only this reality TV star can provide.

Is it wrong for a doctor to be writing these words? I would argue, in fact, that it is precisely in line with the ethics of my profession to welcome the dissemination and augmentation of public health awareness in the context of this pandemic and our country’s failed response to it. For some who follow Hollywood types, it was beloved Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson whose diagnoses snapped people to attention at the start of this pandemic to take it with the gravity it deserved. For sports fans, it was the stories coming out of the NBA with Rudy Gobert’s ridiculous mic touching stunt and the souring of his relationship with Donovan Mitchell after the Utah Jazz coronavirus outbreak.

Others looked to their president and saw a maskless man who mocked those who covered their faces in the context of an airborne illness, who compared it to the flu and said it would go away like a miracle. They looked to the man they voted for and believed in and prayed for as he persisted to downplay the virus as the number of COVID-19 deaths continued to fill increasing numbers of imaginary football stadiums many times over. And even as stories came out of diehard Trump loyalists who succumbed to COVID-19 while regretting not taking this more seriously, he continued to contradict the clear public health messaging of his top officials, undermining and undercutting at every turn.

My colleagues and I have watched, our stomachs turning and churning in twisted knots of anger, as Trump has continued to host superspreader events throughout the country as recently as this past week. Just like the one Herman Cain attended whose life ended shortly thereafter. White hot rage has been our default setting for so many of us in health care over the last eight months, as we have been keenly aware of the broad swaths of precious lives needlessly lost due to the criminal negligence of this administration. I remember how my insides blazed as I watched Vice President Mike Pence traipse through Mayo Clinic without a mask and how there wasn’t a single person in that hospital who was willing to stand up for their patients and colleagues and call out the emperor who had no mask. This administration has been, literally, sickening.

https://www.yahoo.com/huffpost/trump-tests-positive-coronavirus-doctor-160100764.html

Not everyone on this site is going to agree with you doc. There's a new wave of blue collar workers that know way more about this than doctors and scientists do. But they listen to Trump. Trump is rich, so he must be really smart. So why listen to doctors who are probably paid by super powerful Marxists anyway when you have rich people that always expose the truth?

That being said, I agree with you and this is what a lot of people are saying... If Trump can get over himself (because you know, he is NEVER wrong) he COULD change the message. All he has to do is say, "OK folks, the virus is real and we need to wear masks". Millions of Trump supporters will immediately put masks on, 'cause you know... Trump is so rich and so smart.

There maybe some hope... This experience seems to have already changed something in Trump's attitude. I noticed that after contracting the virus, he hasn't called it the China virus. He called it "whatever you want to call it." Donny... it's called severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). You can shorten that to corona virus if you like but it would be better for the president to be real about things instead of injecting conspiracy theories into everything that assails us.