UNMC Expert Hopes Trump's Diagnosis Spurs Caution, Stronger Policies

A leading public health expert in Nebraska says he hopes President Trump’s testing positive for COVID-19 will spur more caution and stronger policies to combat the disease.

Dr. Ali Khan is Dean of the College of Public Health and a professor of epidemiology at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. He described his reaction when he first heard the news about President Trump testing positive for COVID-19.

“As a physician and a citizen I was concerned. Then I was like ‘Oh gosh, I hope both the president and the first lady are going to be okay,’” Khan said.

Khan said he hopes this diagnosis will shake people out of what he sees as hopelessness and apathy about the pandemic.

“That is the hope, that others will see, will make the point that even somebody who has the best possible science around him, with routine testing and everything can get infected, will make the point that anybody in America can get infected and that we need to do whatever we can to make sure that we don’t get infected,” he said.

Khan said that includes personal behavior like wearing masks and practicing social distancing, combined with stronger public health measures at a time when infections in Nebraska are increasing.

“Mask(s) and social distancing is not sufficient. You have to combine it with the robust public health response of making sure that you are quickly identifying people, getting them into isolation if they’re infected, finding their contacts and putting them in quarantine. And if you don’t combine those public health measures together, we will not see a decrease in cases in this state, or in the nation,” he said.