Editor's note: Bradley Blankenship is a Prague-based American journalist, political analyst and freelance reporter. The article reflects the author's opinions, and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

The world has been plunged into another crazy turn of events this year as U.S. President Donald Trump tested positive for COVID-19. It shows clearly that no one is insulated from the coronavirus and that the pandemic is far from over.

World leaders and public figures, including those that are deeply opposed to Trump, have quickly rallied around him, wishing him and his family well. They have shown grace and humility that Trump himself probably would never have shown in return.

Others have mocked him, wishing him the opposite of well and, as one Twitter user on my timeline put it, started the "opposite of a prayer circle."

However one wishes to digest this news based on their own experience with the President and his nearly four years in power, we can say that they are entitled to their opinion.

There is certainly no question that his diagnosis is a testament to his own irresponsibility. Before the first presidential election debate, Trump said at a campaign rally in Ohio that the virus affects "virtually nobody."

This irresponsibility can be noted that Trump actually knew, before he tested positive for the virus that he came into close contact with an aide that tested positive for the virus and did not self-quarantine and instead went to a fundraiser.

All in all, it just goes to show how community safety during a pandemic is the exact same – there is literally no distinction – as individual safety. Trump endangered others, and so he endangered himself; this story should really humble anyone who doubts the power of this virus.

As for what this means moving forward, it's clear that this may set Trump's reelection campaign back. He will now have to sit out fundraising events, which he desperately needs, and the rallies that feed the monstrosity will be put on hold. It may even hamper his ability to govern should the 74-year-old fall into a severe bout of disease, which is not unlikely.

Uncertainty is now the name of the game moving forward for how it all plays out. The U.S. stock market already fell after the president's diagnosis went public, which was expected but only highlights the ubiquity of the uncertainty the financial market faces during the pandemic. 

It was also influenced by the Bureau of Labor Statistics' September jobs report – the last one to be published before Election Day – that showed that the country's economic and social recovery is fizzling out.

The report indicated that the economy added 661,000 jobs in September, which is a marked decrease in pace after August's report said that 1.4 million jobs were added. The September report noted that the unemployment rate dropped half a percent to 7.9 percent – an abysmal rate that is unlikely to seriously rebound any time soon.

In context, this means that the workforce is still 10 million jobs short of the 22 million lost because of the coronavirus and it should be noted that 26 million Americans, particularly blue-collar workers in key electoral areas, are still on some form of unemployment insurance.

The recovery may have initially rebounded a bit better than expected, but it disproportionately favored higher-wage workers and is stalling out. The country has certainly not "rounded the corner," as Trump suggested, in managing the pandemic or its economic fallout, and this is largely because the pandemic is unmitigated.

This has electoral consequences, as well as material ones. Not without good reason, Americans will see the president's diagnosis as a signal that no one is safe. As we will see in the coming months, consumer spending being the driver of the economic recovery is probably a pipedream – instead, targeted government spending in key areas (totally out of the question under a Republican-majority Congress) will need to compensate.

This is not just an American experience. Trump joins a growing list of other world leaders that have been infected with the COVID-19. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and other heads of state and high-level officials around the world have also contracted the disease. It demonstrates the vulnerability of all of us, and that things are unlikely to go according to plan in terms of disease management or a V-shaped recovery.

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