Clinton says Trump’s COVID-19 not ‘comparable’ to her 2016 pneumonia

Former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton said in an interview published by The Atlantic on Friday that her mid-campaign pneumonia diagnosis was not “comparable” to President Trump’s contraction of COVID-19.

“It’s apples and oranges, completely. When I was diagnosed with walking pneumonia, I was immediately put on antibiotics. I was told that I was not contagious, and I tried to go on with my schedule,” Clinton said. 

This “proved to be problematic,” she added, referring to the moments she was caught on camera wobbling and appearing to almost faint at a 9/11 memorial ceremony. 

“I don’t even think it’s comparable [to Trump],” the former secretary of State said. 

“We have an infectious, contagious disease that has already killed more than 210,000 Americans, and the contrast between what one would expect a leader to try to model between Joe Biden and Donald Trump is literally night and day. And it’s heartbreaking to me.”

The remarks come a week after Trump announced that he and the first lady had tested positive for COVID-19. The president spent three days receiving treatment at Walter Reed Medical Center before returning to the White House on Monday. 

Since Trump’s diagnosis, several members of his inner circle have also tested positive for the virus, including White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany and policy adviser Stephen Miller. 

Trump has received harsh criticism from Democrats and others who say that he has acted carelessly in his response to the pandemic both before and after his diagnosis, including when the president left Walter Reed on Sunday to make a “surprise” visit to voters from his motorcade. Footage from the event shows that at least two Secret Service agents were in the vehicle with the president. 

The president also faced backlash on Tuesday for comparing the coronavirus to the flu, saying in a tweet about flu season, “Are we going to close down our Country? No, we have learned to live with it, just like we are learning to live with Covid, in most populations far less lethal!!!”

“I don’t really have anything to contribute to the ongoing saga of why he behaves the way he does, and why he treats people the way he does, and why he won’t listen to people who actually know something. It’s pretty distressing on all fronts,” Clinton told The Atlantic. 

Data compiled by Johns Hopkins University revealed that the U.S. reported more than 56,000 newly confirmed COVID-19 cases on Thursday, the highest daily increase since mid-August.