Vice President Mike Pence plans to maintain an aggressive campaign schedule this week, the White House says, despite an apparent outbreak of the coronavirus among his senior aides.
Pence’s chief of staff, Marc Short, and “a couple of key staff surrounding the vice president” have tested positive for the virus, White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said Sunday.
[...]
Top Pence political advisor Marty Obst tested positive for COVID-19 earlier this week, a person familiar with the matter said.
[...]
The vice president, who along with his wife, Karen, tested negative on Sunday, according to his office, is considered a “close contact” of the aides under Centers for Disease Control and Prevention criteria but will not quarantine, his spokesman said.
LA Times
Go on out there and infect people.
Devin O’Malley said Pence decided to maintain his travel schedule “in consultation with the White House Medical Unit” and “in accordance with the CDC guidelines for essential personnel.”
Essential personnel. What about all the staff and other workers necessary to get him to and from his superspreader events? I guess they're essentially expendable personnel.
Those guidelines require that essential workers exposed to someone with the coronavirus closely monitor for symptoms of COVID-19 and wear a mask whenever around other people.
You think Pence is going to campaign wearing a mask? Me neither. Also, he should be quarantined, period.
Saskia Popescu, an infectious disease expert at George Mason University, called Pence’s decision to travel “grossly negligent” regardless of the stated justification that Pence was an essential worker.
“It’s just an insult to everybody who has been working in public health and public health response,” she said. “I also find it really harmful and disrespectful to the people going to the rally” and the people on Pence’s own staff who will accompany him.
“He needs to be staying home 14 days,” she added. “Campaign events are not essential.”
They are if you're losing.
The White House did not address how Pence’s political activities amounted to essential work.
[...]
The vice president has advocated mask-wearing and social distancing, but often does not wear one himself and holds large political events where many people do not wear face coverings.
[...]
Pence’s handling of his exposure to a confirmed positive case stands in contrast to how Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris responded when a close aide and a member of her campaign plane’s charter crew tested positive for the virus earlier this month. She took several days off the campaign trail citing her desire to act out of an abundance of caution.
UPDATE 6:00pm:
No comments:
Post a Comment