No surprise here, of course


The Times reported today that four members of Vice President Pence’s inner circle tested positive for the novel coronavirus this past week, including his chief of staff Marc Short. I didn’t find that at all surprising, given that – at least at the top levels – White House staff members make it a badge of honor not to comply with sensible guidelines like mask wearing.

But what I did find surprising was the article’s statement “The decision by Mr. Pence, who leads the White House Coronavirus Task Force, to continue campaigning is certain to raise new questions about how seriously the White House is taking the risks to their own staff members and the public from the pandemic that has killed more than 224,000 people in the United States.”

At this point, who could possibly have a question about how serious the WH is taking risks to their staff members and the public? They’re not taking this seriously at all. In fact, the president’s chief medical advisor, Dr. Scott Atlas, is all for going for herd immunity, meaning as many people as possible (below the age of 60) should be infected as quickly as possible. These four infections fit right in with his plan, as does the fact that daily new infections continue to set new records.

And even though Dr. Atlas is over 60, he certainly knows there’s no way that a push toward herd immunity in the general population won’t result in a lot of infections and deaths in people over 60 as well.

In fact, I think everyone who advocates a herd immunity strategy (i.e. not waiting for the right type of herd immunity – what will result from almost total vaccination of the population), including Dr. Atlas, should be required to get infected immediately. Fortunately, it seems like working in the WH amounts to the same thing, although I’m pretty sure most of the household staff members (overwhelmingly Black, it seems) didn’t sign up for that. I’ll bet if Trump put out a call to his supporters to take over their positions, he’d get an overwhelming response. 

I would love to hear any comments or questions you have on this post. Drop me an email at tom@tomalrich.com

 

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