President Trump tweeted on Monday as he prepared to leave Walter Reed that people shouldn't be afraid of COVID-19 or let it dominate their lives – as the death toll in America topped 210,000. For Amanda Kloots, who lost her husband, Broadway actor Nick Cordero, to the virus, that tweet hit a nerve.
Kloots posted Mr. Trump's tweet on Instagram, with her own message to other families who lost loved ones to the virus: "I stand by you, with you, holding your hand."
"Unfortunately it did dominate our lives didn't it? It dominated Nick's family's lives and my family's lives. I guess we 'let it' – like it was our choice??" her post continued.
"Unfortunately not everyone is lucky enough to spend two days in the hospital," she said, referring to Mr. Trump's short stay for COVID-19 treatment. "I cried next to my husband for 95 days watching what COVID did to the person I love. It IS something to be afraid of."
[embed]https://www.instagram.com/p/CF_PQFnA9ZY/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading[/embed]Kloots said, "After you see the person you love the most die from this disease you would never say what this tweet says. There is no empathy to all the lives lost. He is bragging instead. It is sad. It is hurtful. It is disgraceful."
During her husband's long battle with coronavirus, Kloots often used her Instagram to update fans and share information about what his harrowing journey looked like. Cordero, 41, was intubated on April 1, and in addition to suffering from pneumonia, he went into septic shock, had two "mini strokes," had a temporary pacemaker and suffered from blood clotting complications which resulted in his right leg being amputated, Kloots has said.
At the end of his battle, Cordreo was in a "vicious ICU dance circle," Kloots said. The Tony Award-nominated actor died on July 5.
Kloots had not directly spoken about the president's coronavirus diagnosis on Instagram until Monday night, in her post that quickly went viral.
President Trump left Walter Reed medical center on Monday evening, hours after the medical team treating him for COVID-19 cautioned that he's "not out of the woods yet."