[ad_1]
With the presidential election a month away, voters in the United States are taking in the news that President Donald Trump is infected with Covid-19.
Trump is currently experiencing mild symptoms, but at age 74 and within the clinical definition of obesity, he has risk factors that increase his chances of having a severe reaction.
We asked some older members of the BBC voting panel how they felt when they heard the news.
Mark Falbo is a retired higher education administrator who recently moved to Windham, Maine. He’s a Democrat who votes for Joe Biden.
I am very concerned when someone receives a diagnosis of being Covid positive; being someone my age and size, I know how bad it can be for them, so I hope that the president and the first lady, and everyone who may have been exposed, will recover well.
I also hope you create an area of seriousness around the president on this, because this is still a very dangerous situation and hopefully, [this will be] his way of having to learn how leaders should respond to threats to their population.
I don’t think he underestimated the crisis; it’s pretty clear that he was aware of the threat. Personally, I think it was mishandled. And I think it has been a great disservice not only to Americans, but to the world.
Here in Maine, we are quite sensitive about Covid-19 and I am fortunate to be in a state where the governor and our director of the CDC have taken this very seriously, with the exception of some silly activities of some families.
Laura Powers is a materials scientist from Wilmot, Wisconsin. She identifies as Independent and will vote for Joe Biden.
When I woke up this morning and heard the news, and heard that he had tested positive, my first thought was that maybe this is a wake-up call for his followers who think this is all a hoax.
My second thought was that unless he has symptoms that are a bit more severe, and I don’t wish that on anyone, including him and Melania, he will walk away and convey to his followers that Covid-19 is nothing to worry about. and even at his age he surpassed it.
I have been extremely careful and take the health situation very seriously. I have no underlying conditions, but I know many people who have them. I am concerned about people who are not, and I think this will be a wake-up call. But like I said, I think so [Trump has only a mild case], will convince your followers that Covid has been disproportionate by the media.
Kathleen McClellan of Breaux Bridge, Louisiana, is a Republican who votes for Donald Trump.
So sorry [Donald and Melania Trump] contracted the infection. I hope they do well. But my brother got it too and said he had a flu that felt worse. So, I know it varies quite a bit. But I think this is how a virus works: it has to infect a certain number of people before it disappears.
I don’t think I have underestimated the crisis. I think he is in a position where he has seen people die, but he has a different philosophy, in which he advances. It is an individual decision for each person and I don’t think anyone knows much about the virus. But it seems that right now we may need to move on with our lives, protecting people who are especially vulnerable.
It’s just a reminder that [Covid-19] it is not something anyone should take for granted. But you can’t be paranoid. It’s not like April when a full shutdown made sense because we didn’t know what we were dealing with.
Eric Scholl, 65, is a media coordinator from Tulsa, Oklahoma. He voted for Trump in 2016, but will vote for Joe Biden this year.
Covid is not a Republican problem, it is not a United States problem, it is a global health problem. Unfortunately, and I mean very unfortunately, the president never [listened to] medical experts, let alone the fact that he blew up the country’s protection first. So it’s sad, I’m very sad for him and his wife and I hope they recover, but that’s not going to change who I vote for.
I respect that there will be a small percentage [of the population] who will be more proactive to protect themselves [after the president got the virus]. But here, where I live in Oklahoma, the attitude is “Hey, I’m bulletproof. It won’t affect me.”
The president has vastly underestimated the power of Covid-19.
Jim Hurson of the San Francisco Bay Area in California is a Republican who votes for Donald Trump.
My first reaction was obviously which I thought was very regrettable. My second reaction is to ask me what your opposition is going to do, to try to take advantage of this to make it look bad again. I think they’re sure to play a game of “we told you so.”
We have to remember that we have the benefit of hindsight.
If you listen to purely health-oriented people, they want to make things as safe as possible from a virology point of view. But the president also has to deal with the consequences of the disastrous economic consequences, what are the mental health problems of kidnapping people from their homes … what is the society as a whole going to suffer and the government spending the money that frankly, don’t you?
It is an incredibly complicated situation when you look at it from a national point of view. Given that, I don’t think anyone could have done better.
If you don’t assume that the government can solve all this, and look at people and say how they are behaving, we are all having a good time.
Additional reporting by Silvia Martelli.
Are you an American voter? Join Jim, Kathleen, Mark, Eric, and Laura on our US Election Voter Panel.
Use this form to get in touch.
