The head of the White House coronavirus task force Vice-President Mike Pence will not quarantine despite at least five of his top aides testing positive for coronavirus.
Over the weekend, CNN reported that Pence’s Chief of Staff Marc Short tested positive for the virus. Despite acknowledging that Pence is a “close contact” of Short, the VP’s office says he will continue with his regular schedule because he is “an essential personnel.”
“While Vice President Pence is considered a close contact with Mr. Short, in consultation with the White House Medical Unit, the Vice President will maintain his schedule in accordance with the CDC guidelines for essential personnel,” Pence’s press secretary Devin O’Malley said in a statement.
Just last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated their guidelines of a “close contact” to include anyone who has been within 6 feet of a COVID-19 patient for at least 15 minutes in total.
Even though Pence tested negative, per CDC guidelines he should be in quarantine since symptoms appear anywhere from two to fourteen days after exposure and the individual can still transmit the virus during the incubation period. With these positive tests, we know that the virus is lurking in Pence’s inner circle.
By refusing to quarantine Pence is once again modeling the type of leadership that got us to the point where we are right now with the virus in this country –over 220,000 dead and the virus is resurging.
The White House meanwhile is also now openly acknowledging that they have given up on trying to do anything to halt the spread of the virus. Chief of Staff Mark Meadows told CNN on Sunday: “We are not going to control the pandemic. We are going to control the fact that we get vaccine, therapeutics, and other mitigation areas.”
