President Trump's removal of his mask upon re-entering the White House on Monday did not go unnoticed by a former World Health Organization official in Chicago.
Dr. Gary Slutkin is perhaps best known as the founder of Cure Violence, a public health approach to fighting violence. But he also is an epidemiologist and the former chief of intervention development at the WHO.
"It's a confused, dangerous state," he said Monday when asked about Trump's gesture at the White House.
Trump, who has coronavirus, spent the weekend at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and received a variety of therapeutics. He'll be closely monitored at the White House, officials say. Technically, Trump is still considered contagious.
"The infectious disease department of Washington, DC, should be interacting with this contagious person to attempt to control his movements," Slutkin tells WBBM Newsradio.
He also expressed concern for people who work at the White House.
"People who are in the residence should not have to be there. They should not be required to be exposed to an infectious person as part of their job," Slutkin said.
He said hopefully the president's family will be able to persuade him to isolate.
Trump has long downplayed the danger of COVID-19 and flouted his own administration's health guidelines to avoid spreading the virus before he himself and the first lady tested positive late last week.
