COVID survivors furious after Trump tells people to not be 'afraid' of the disease

People who have survived being infected with the novel coronavirus expressed dismay and disgust this week after President Donald Trump told Americans they don't need to be afraid of the disease that has killed more than 210,000 Americans.

In an interview with NBC Los Angeles, 64-year-old COVID survivor Scott Sedlacek hammered the president for downplaying a virus that caused him health problems for months afterward.

“I’m so glad that he appears to be doing well, that he has doctors who can give him experimental drugs that aren’t available to the masses,” Sedlacek said. “For the rest of us, who are trying to protect ourselves, that behavior is an embarrassment.”

Marc Papaj, a Seneca Nation member who lives in New York and who lost his mother, grandmother and aunt to COVID-19, was similarly apoplectic at the president's continued efforts to downplay the disease.

“The loss of my dearest family members will forever dominate my life in every way for all of my days,” he said. “[Trump] does not care about any of us — he's feeling good."

And Candy Boyd, the owner of Boyd Funeral Home in Los Angeles, tells NBC Los Angeles that she's furious that the president is telling people not to worry about a disease that's killed so many people in her community.

"We have people dying and this is a joke to him,” Boyd said. “I don’t take that lightly. This is sad. This is absurd"