Once again, the world shuddered at news about President Donald Trump. This time, it wasn’t something Trump said or did, but rather the announcement early Friday that he had tested positive for the coronavirus.
Trump is not the first world leader to be infected. Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain and President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil both tested positive. Johnson ended up in an intensive care unit where, he said later, "things could have gone either way.”
But Trump, 74, is older and at higher risks than either of those men. The news of a U.S. 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 United States.