- President Donald Trump is not the first world leader to sign the COVID-19 agreement.
- People including Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson have also tested positive for the virus this year.
- Like Trump, these two leaders pushed against the recommendations of public health experts before testing positive.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
President Donald Trump on Friday joined the growing list of world leaders signing the COVID-19 agreement, which includes Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
All three leaders hit out at public health recommendations and ruled out the risk of COVID-19 before becoming infected.
Johnson objected to the social contract before the virus contracted and ordered pubs and restaurants to close their doors. In a press briefing in early March, weeks before the positive test, Johnson told reporters he was proud to have shaken hands with coronavirus patients during a visit to the hospital.
“I shook hands with everyone, you would be happy to know,” Johns said at the time. “And I keep shaking hands.”
Johnson eventually spent a week in hospital, which included several nights of intensive care. “He could have gone anywhere,” Johnson said, referring to his experience with the virus back in April.
British Prime Minister Boris Jones welcomes US President Donald Trump to NATO leaders’ summit in Watford
Reuters
Similarly, Bolsonaro spent months mitigating its seriousness before signing the COID-19 deal.
Bolsonaro said during a speech in March, “Our lives must move forward. Jobs must be kept … we must, yes, return to normalcy.” “With my history as an athlete, if I had been infected with the virus, I would have no reason to worry. I wouldn’t feel anything, or it would be a little flu.”
When reporters in the spring asked Bolsonaro about the rising death toll from the virus in his country, he replied: “So what?”
Bolsonaro tested positive for coronavirus in early July. Weeks after his diagnosis, Bolsonaro complained that he felt “weak” and said he had “mold” in his lungs.
“I just took a blood test. Yesterday I was a little weak. They also got a little bit infected. Now I’m taking antibiotics. It’s been 20 days indoors, we catch other things. I got mold, mold in my lungs. That must be it, “Bolsonaro said in late July. Michelle Bolsonaro, the wife of the Brazilian leader, also tested positive for the virus.
Trump has taken a similar, anti-science approach to COVID-19 as his Brazilian counterpart.
He has repeatedly reduced the risk of the virus and misrepresented it as “like the flu.” Trump admitted in a recently released interview with P ve journalist Bob Woodward in March that he was “deliberately incorporating the risks of the virus into people to avoid spreading panic.”
Trump ridiculed former Vice President Joe Biden for being careful about wearing a mask during the president’s first debate on Tuesday, even though the administration’s top health experts urge Americans to wear a mask or face.
Trump said of Biden during the debate, “I wear a mask when needed. I don’t wear a mask like that.” “Every time you look at him, he’s got a mask. He can speak 200 feet away from them, and he shows up with the biggest mask I’ve ever seen.”
The White House said Friday that Trump is experiencing “mild symptoms” following the virus deal. In his diagnosis, especially the U.S. There are far-reaching implications for national security. The president will now also have to withdraw from the campaign trail, at least for about a month until election day.
U.S. There are more than 7.3 million reported cases of Covid-19, and more than 208,000 deaths per Johns Hopkins. Both averages are the highest in the world.
