Trump’s ‘don’t be afraid of Covid’ exhortation is denounced by Democrats and disease experts.

“‘Don’t be afraid of Covid’ is an evil thing to say to those of us who lost our loved ones to Covid 19,” Representative Ilhan Omar, a Democratic congresswoman from Minnesota whose father died from complications of the virus, wrote on Twitter. “This man is unfit to be President, he lacks the compassion and humanity it takes to lead our country.”

Carlos del Rio, an infectious disease expert at Emory University in Atlanta, responded to the president’s post with one of his own: “Are you telling the relatives of 210,000 Americans who have died of #COVID19 not to be afraid? Please tell everyone the truth once and for all, this is serious & #WearAMask You didn’t and got infected.”

Many Democrats noted that Mr. Trump has access to better health care than most Americans.

“Tell that to all the Americans who - unlike you - DON’T have access to the best healthcare in the world, funded entirely by taxpayers,” wrote Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio. “Tell that to the families of the 200,000+ Americans who have died from COVID-19. Tell that to the essential workers risking their lives every day. And you’re STILL in court right now fighting to take away healthcare from millions of Americans.”

But several Republicans embraced Mr. Trump’s dismissive message. Senator Kelly Loeffler, a Georgia Republican, tweeted: “COVID stood NO chance against @realDonaldTrump” and shared a crudely doctored video of the president in a wresting match with the virus. And Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida posted: “President Trump won’t have to recover from COVID. COVID will have to recover from President Trump.”