COVID-19 hits the White House that played it down. Don’t gloat — vote.

Viruses are opportunistic, and the coronavirus has now seized the opportunity to infect President Donald Trump, a man whose unwillingness to lead and model basic safety precautions has contributed mightily to the pandemic’s toll on America.

There’s nothing satisfying about writing that sentence. And there’s nothing satisfying or remotely good about the president, first lady Melania Trump and Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel all testing positive for COVID-19.

I wish them the same thing I wish every American who has had to face this disease: a speedy recovery and good health to follow.

I also hope this news drives home to Americans, and particularly to Americans who have supported Trump’s denialist approach to the coronavirus, that viruses don’t care about your boldness or politics, and that science is a better guide than mindless speculation.

I hope this is the blow that swings America’s pendulum back into the realm of sanity. Though I’m not optimistic.

I had hoped more than 200,000 COVID-19 deaths and 7 million infections would have knocked sense into the nation, but it didn’t. We still had a president holding large outdoor campaign rallies, rarely wearing a mask or encouraging those around him to do so, while goading states to open their schools and lift pandemic restrictions.

We still had states like Florida, with infections raging, opening up bars.

We still lacked a cohesive national plan for contact tracing and widespread acceptance of best practices. When we crossed that 200,000-death threshold, we still had many so-called leaders, including the president and vice president, pretending everything was under control.

And we now know Trump’s top aide, Hope Hicks, tested positive for coronavirus Thursday morning. We learned about that only because a reporter broke the news Thursday evening.

Hicks had been on Air Force One and Marine One with the president this week, meaning Trump went to a Thursday fundraiser at one of his resorts in New Jersey knowing he had been exposed to the virus. Nobody at the fundraiser was notified.

Republican donor Dan K. Eberhart tweeted Friday morning that Trump “should not have gone to a fundraiser yesterday knowing Hope was sick. He should have not tried keeping it a secret!”

At Tuesday night’s presidential debate, Trump’s adult children refused to wear masks in the auditorium, despite specific rules requiring masks. And during the debate, Trump mocked the fact that Joe Biden almost always wears a face mask: “I don’t wear masks like him, every time you see him he’s got a mask. He could be speaking 200 feet away and he shows up with the biggest mask I’ve ever seen.”

Like the rest of America, the former vice president and members of his campaign learned about a possible exposure to coronavirus through the media, not from President Trump or his campaign.

Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan of Ohio was one of Biden’s guests at the debate. He has since tested negative for coronavirus, but Friday he expressed his frustration at Trump and his family, telling Politico: “Not a one of ’em wore masks. It was obnoxious when I saw it that night, but after having a Q-Tip jammed down my nose again, I’m angry at them. It’s the height of arrogance. It’s dangerous. They endangered other people. They were up on the stage where Joe Biden was.”

“Arrogance” is the right word to describe Trump and his administration’s approach to the pandemic. That arrogance spread like a virus to Trump’s devoted followers, instilling a devil-may-care attitude that has made it far more difficult to control the spread of coronavirus and get back to some form of normalcy.

So I hope Trump’s diagnosis creates a moment of national clarity. This is serious and deadly. The virus finds opportunities to infect those who take it for granted or let their guards down, and it’s not going to just disappear or be swiftly eradicated by the promise of a vaccine.

I hold Trump and his administration responsible for the reckless and ridiculous way America has handled this pandemic. But I find no satisfaction whatsoever in him and the first lady getting sick.

I don’t have time for schadenfreude. None of us does.

This country needs to deal, sensibly and scientifically and finally, with the virus that has destroyed so many lives.

People need to wear masks religiously and recognize that we can’t have all the things we want — wide-open bars and restaurants, parties, in-person schooling — until we wrestle this pandemic to the ground.

This country needs a return to sanity. And a president who cares enough to set a good example and lead.