World Leaders Who Have Had COVID-19
The world has been stirred this morning with the news of President Trump annoucing that he is positive for COVID-19 in a tweet: “Tonight, FLOTUS and I tested positive for COVID-19. We will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately. We will get through this TOGETHER!” Trump is not the first world leader to contract COVID-19, but just a latest in a series of them. Let’s take a look at the short list and the impact that the news has had on each nation (starting with Trump’s announcement), from this morning’s New York Times article.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/02/world/reactions-trump-positive-covid-test.html
President Trump, 74, is at higher risk of complications since he is older. And the news of an American president contracting a potentially lethal virus carried global repercussions beyond that of any other world leader. Financial markets fell in Asia and looked set to open lower in Europe and the US. Expressions of concern and good wishes for Mr. Trump’s speedy recovery — as well as that of the first lady, Melania Trump, who was also infected — poured in from leaders in Russia, India, Britain and other countries.
Several people noted that it was a grim reminder of a virus that does not distinguish between rich and poor, weak and powerful. The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction tweeted, “Nobody is immune from #COVID19.” In Myanmar, a Baptist minister who met with Trump in the Oval Office last year and told him about oppression and torture by the military, said that having Covid-19 could help the president better understand the pain of others. “There are many critics of Trump regarding Covid-19,” said the minister, Hkalam Samson. “Now, he is suffering himself and he should be compassionate for his people by now.” Wang Huiyao, the founder and president of the Center for China and Globalization, an influential research group in Beijing, said, “When the president of the United States, the most powerful person in the world, can catch this, it shows that the virus has no boundaries.”
Others suggested a degree of justice in his diagnosis, given Mr. Trump’s record of diminishing the threat of the virus, refusing simple precautions like wearing a mask, and running risks like holding campaign rallies with little to no social distancing. For example, during the presidential debate on Tuesday, he mocked former Joe Biden for wearing a mask.
Britain’s experience shows that even in a country with a well-organized political system, a leader’s sudden illness can be deeply unsettling. When Prime Minister Boris Johnson contracted the virus in March, the government was adrift for several days while he struggled to keep leading the response to the pandemic, via Zoom calls, from isolation in his official residence on Downing Street.
Johnson, 56, was admitted to the hospital and then to intensive care, and then he ordered the foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, to act in his absence. But that did little to dispel the uncertainty, especially since unlike in the United States, there is no legal line of succession if a prime minister dies in office or is permanently incapacitated.
The government issued upbeat but unrevealing reports of Mr. Johnson’s health, and after he was released from the hospital on Easter Sunday, he disclosed that his condition had been more grave than was reported.
In Brazil, President Jair Bolsonaro’s bout with the virus was less serious. He said he suffered only mild fever and body aches before testing positive on July 7. After quarantining on the grounds of the presidential residence in Brasília, he pronounced himself recovered on July 25, posting a photo of himself smiling and giving a thumbs up.
Bolsonaro, 65, who has adopted Mr. Trump’s approach of playing down the virus and promoting miracle cures, appeared to brandish a box of hydroxychloroquine pills, the anti-malaria medicine. Despite claims, there is growing scientific consensus that the drug is not effective in treating Covid-19.
