One Week at the White House Was America’s Pandemic in a Microcosm
President Trump’s reckless abandon made a superspreader event all but inevitable, and it jeopardizes more lives just as a second virus surge begins.
Some of the Republican Party members who’ve tested positive for Covid: Donald Trump, Hope Hicks, Thom Tillis, Kellyanne Conway, Kayleigh McEnany, Mike Lee, Chris Christie, and Ronna McDaniel.
Photo illustration: 731; Photos: Bloomberg; Getty Images
SARS-CoV-2 doesn’t pay attention to party affiliation. Nor does it listen to spin that the nation is turning a corner in the pandemic or promises that a vaccine to solve everything is imminent. All it does is spread, silently and efficiently, wherever and whenever it can, taking advantage of people who let their guard down to find more throats and noses to infect.
The coronavirus apparently found plenty of throats to colonize at the White House. At least 12 people who attended a Rose Garden ceremony for Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett on Sept. 26, or other indoor events associated with it, have now tested positive, including the president and the first lady, two Republican senators, the president of the University of Notre Dame, former aide Kellyanne Conway, and press secretary Kayleigh McEnany. Numerous others in Trump’s orbit who aren’t known to have attended the Rose Garden event, including top aides Hope Hicks and Stephen Miller and campaign manager Bill Stepien, have also contracted the virus.