Today, this writer would like to yield the floor to the next generation. Our son, a member of the Kokomo High School Class of 2003 now serving as a trauma surgeon in Indianapolis, had this to say as President Trump left Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. I offer the thoughts of a young man who has been on the front lines of the medical fight against this disease … and who said good-bye via Zoom to his beloved grandfather the afternoon before he died of complications of COVID-19. (Oh, and by the way, let the record show I’m still taller than he is.)

The President, @realDonaldTrump, appears to be in the process of weathering his infection with COVID-19 relatively well. And as a human being, I am thankful for that.

That being said, he contracted a virus that he has consistently “downplayed” and marginalized.

He contracted a virus, for which there are accepted mitigation techniques that he has ignored.

He contracted a virus that he has spread to others, many of whom are within the distance and duration allowing transmission as a necessary function of their job.

Following his preventable infection with COVID-19, he has been treated with medications not readily available to the majority of the American public.

He was administered these medications by doctors and nurses who willingly place themselves in harm’s way to treat patients infected with this dangerous virus.

He received a level of care not provided to many Americans at a cost to the American taxpayer, of whom he is not one.

He has, by all accounts, manipulated the dissemination of information regarding his health, misleading and misinforming the American people, to whom he is responsible and answerable.

And at a point when he is being discharged from one of the finest medical institutions in the world –  after receiving care not accessible to many Americans, at the high cost to which he has not contributed (including but not limited to his field trip around the block in the Presidential motorcade with two secret service agents placed at unnecessary and unacceptable risk) – his parting thought on the experience is that there is no reason to be afraid of COVID-19.

There are nearly 210,000 people, who are dead as a result of COVID-19, who are not here to dispute this. There are untold scores more who died of COVID-19 and will never have this identified as the cause of their death due to an ineffective and inadequate testing regimen put forth by the President and his administration.

As the grandson of a great man that succumbed to this deadly virus, I am here to dispute this. There is every reason to be afraid of this virus. There is every reason to take precautions. There is every reason to work diligently, day and night, to protect ourselves and those around us.

I am happy for the President, his family, and those who care for him that he appears to be on the road to recovery.

As the family member of someone who hasn’t been able to enjoy that same relief, I take great offense to using this experience to further misinform the American public and mischaracterize the ongoing and ever present risk this virus poses to each and every one of us. Every conscientious American should think long and hard about the consequences of the words and actions of the President. There is quickly approaching a day to effect change