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What It’s Like to Have Covid-19 When You’re Not the President
A new story in the Washington Post covers the trauma of one family that battled Covid-19 at the same time as Trump
The pandemic has underscored stark health inequities in the United States, and a new feature in the Washington Post compares the treatment of Americans with Covid-19 to that of the President.
Carol Coates had battled Covid-19 at the same time as the president. But instead of a suite at Walter Reed, the 46-year-old Black teacher self-isolated in the basement of her family’s home. And instead of the experimental cocktail of antibodies that Trump was given, she received get-well cards from her fifth-grade students.
Carol had taught nine miles from the White House. But her illness unfolded in what seemed like a different universe than the one the president described.
As reporter Michael Miller writes, Covid-19 has killed more than 227,000 Americans and this burden is significant for Black and Hispanic people who are nearly three times as likely to contract the virus compared to white people. The CDC reports that African Americans are twice as likely to die from the virus. Miller writes:
“Don’t let it take over your lives,” Trump said during his triumphal homecoming video. Yet for many people of color in the United States, the coronavirus has already taken the life of someone they loved.
Read the full story below.
