(CNN)V . P . Mike Pence was spotted coming in the White-colored House right before 11 a.m. on Monday morning. He did not put on a mask nor did the 2 aides walking near him, based on CNN’s Betsy Klein.
That is odd, considering that a detailed Pence aide — his press secretary, Katie Miller — tested positive for that virus on Friday and many people from the White-colored House coronavirus task pressure, which Pence chairs, are quarantining themselves because of potential exposure.
Pence, based on a spokesman, “continuously stick to the advice from the White-colored House Medical Unit and isn’t in quarantine.” The aide added that Pence has “tested negative each day.”
That is good! But additionally not suggestive of anything apart from he does not presently possess the virus. Take into account that Miller tested negative for that virus on Thursday but positive for this Friday. This occurs! Testing negative eventually isn’t any guarantor of testing negative the following day, particularly if you have been uncovered to somebody who has herpes!
Why then is Pence not quarantining — as Fda commissioner Stephen Hahn, CDC Director Robert Redfield and Dr. Anthony Fauci (mostly) are?
Rapid response is I’m not sure. Because according to what we should know of the virus, anybody with exposure should self-quarantine for fourteen days to make sure that they aren’t distributing it to other people. (An average joe with coronavirus provides it with to 2 others.)
Based on CDC guidelines, if you think healthy but “lately had close connection with you aren’t Covid-19,” you need to: “Stay At Home and Monitor Your Wellbeing (Quarantine)” for fourteen days “after your last exposure.” It’s pretty obvious. And Pence pretty clearly matches that description.
So again, why is not Pence self-quarantining? At least, it might send a powerful signal about how exactly serious the White-colored House got its guidelines regarding how to limit multiplication from the coronavirus — and just how committed they’re to using the concepts they’ve needed of others privately. (Nota bene: This isn’t the very first time Pence had bucked the rules his task pressure spearheaded. On a visit to the Mayo Clinic late recently, Pence was photographed with no mask despite an insurance policy in the hospital that visitors must put on one. Pence’s office initially defended him by saying he’d tested negative frequently for that virus — seem familiar??? — but he eventually accepted he must have been putting on a mask.)
Yes, Pence may be the v . p .. And also the mind from the coronavirus task pressure. But because most of us have learned of these past 8 days, telework is definitely an amazing factor. Because of the technology open to the White-colored House, Pence could presumably Zoom into most if not completely from the conferences he must attend. Sure, he’d need to curtail his travel for fourteen days but that is not even close to the finish around the globe considering that not so many people are traveling nowadays. In a nutshell: Pence could do that.
But he is not. Even though you can’t really know why, my educated guess would be that the v . p . quarantining themself due to concerns about coronavirus runs directly counter towards the message that President Jesse Trump continues to be pushing during the last week: Situations are improving!
“Coronavirus figures are searching Far better, going lower just about everywhere,” Trump tweeted on Monday. “Big progress being made!
Trump, an expert of contemporary media — and the strength of symbols and pictures — recognizes that even when figures of cases are falling (and there’s some need to believe they’re), a quarantining v . p . causes it to be very difficult to sell the concept that his administration has effectively handled herpes and now we, like a country, are past the worst from it.
Did Trump tell Pence to not self-isolate? I greatly doubt it. But Pence would need to be a fool, which he isn’t, not to realize that quarantining themself will be a effective message directly against the one which obama really wants to send the nation at this time. And Pence is well-conscious of two other activities: 1) Trump would absolutely make Pence quarantining about him and the 2020 political prospects and a pair of) keeping Trump happy is completely essential if Pence really wants to eventually become the anointed Trump heir once the current President leaves office.
And thus, we’re left, again, and among the 2 top politicians within our country doing the alternative of what they’re telling us to complete. Do as the saying goes, less they are doing, I suppose.