Liz Miranda's whole family had COVID-19 in May and she was sidelined for weeks, so the state representative from Roxbury knows a bit about what President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania are going through.
"It's incredibly difficult, particularly, I know, during campaign season," Miranda said. "And when you're a leader in your community, as people expect you to show up for them, but to make sure that you're also not making the disease spread."
Miranda, who's no fan of Trump, said she hopes the president's supporters take the virus more seriously.
Others had less sympathy and more outrage for the president.
“It angers me – it pisses me off that a president . . . has failed to do one of the most basic things a president should do, which is keep themself safe,” said Michael Mina, an assistant professor of epidemiology at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health and an expert on COVID testing.
At a video press conference Friday, Mina said he’s not surprised by Trump’s diagnosis, but he is concerned that if Trump pulls through the illness, some Americans may view the disease as not a big deal. More than 200,000 Americans have died from the virus, and the worldwide death toll recently eclipsed one million, according to Johns Hopkins University.
Mina said the nation should be prepared for an upswing in cases as the weather cools and that he doesn't think government officials have done enough to prepare for what scientists and reserachers expect.
“This is a seasonal virus. I don’t think people are seeing the urgency,” Mina said.
Sandro Galea, a physician, epidemiologist and dean at Boston University's School of Public Health, said the diagnosis should be a wake-up call to a president who appears to have ignored basic public health precautions.
Trump has often appeared without a mask at many public functions, including the recent announcement of federal appeals court judge Amy Coney Barrett as his nominee for the Supreme Court. The Rose Garden event drew about 150 guests to the White House, most of whom declined to wear masks or social distance.
Trump has “a lot of interpersonal contact, shaking hands and things, which is presumably not being accompanied by suitable hand washing, disinfection,” Galea said, "all the very fundamental public health steps we know should be taken.”
On Friday afternoon, Trump's campaign manager announced that all events involving the president and his family will either be turned into virtual events or postponed until further notice.
Trump, 74, is also in a higher risk category for the disease because of his age and being overweight, Galea said. People between the ages of 60 and 80 are more susceptible to the virus, contracting it at higher rates than the general population. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), eight out of 10 deaths in the U.S. from the new coronavirus have been in people 65 and older.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who contracted the virus in March, was hospitalized for three weeks, including three nights in intensive care. Johnson is 56-years-old -- nearly two decades younger than the U.S. president.
State Rep. Jon Santiago, who represents the South End and Roxbury and works as an emergency room doctor at Boston Medical Center says he hopes the President and the First Lady recover quickly.
“I do hope, however, that his experience will foster greater insight and empathy for those impacted by the virus and the many more destined to become infected,” he said.