Good
morning…
…and
welcome to another day on the campaign trail, nine days out from election day
now, with Joe Biden holding his polling leads, Donald Trump campaigning hard at
rallies which do not adhere to Covid-19 mitigation measures and Mike Pence…
seeing multiple members of his team, including chief of staff Marc Short, test
positive for the coronavirus. The VP is not altering his schedule:
This while
Covid case numbers are shooting to record levels nationally and in many states,
and as one study predicts a death toll of 500,000 by February.
As the AP
reports, “Oklahoma, Illinois, New Mexico and Michigan were among states
announcing new record highs in daily confirmed cases on Saturday, a day after a
nationwide daily record of more than 83,000 reported infections, according to
Johns Hopkins University.
“Dr Joneigh
Khaldun, Michigan’s chief medical executive, said it’s ‘now more important than
ever that people take this seriously.’ The 3,338 new Covid-19 cases in her
state topped the old record by more than 1,300. Michigan is of course a swing
state, fought over by Trump and Biden – who is more than seven points up there.
Kamala Harris, Biden’s running mate, will be in the state today.
The same
Johns Hopkins count now puts the caseload at 8.5m and the death toll at more
than 224,000.
Trump had a
four-state campaign day on Saturday, voting in Florida before staging rallies
in North Carolina, Ohio and Wisconsin. Today he’s speaking in New Hampshire –
where the fivethirtyeight.com average puts Biden more than 11 points ahead.
Trump has a habit of speaking in places where it might not seem worth the
bother – he is also having to campaign in states, such as Georgia, where no Republican
president would usually have to tread.
Coronavirus: Mike Pence continues campaign tour
despite chief of staff's positive test
Vice-president’s most senior aide, Marc Short, has
virus but Pence and wife test negative
Staff and
agencies
Sun 25 Oct
2020 10.26 GMTFirst published on Sun 25 Oct 2020 03.22 GMT
The White
House has said the vice-president, Mike Pence, plans to maintain an aggressive
campaign schedule this week despite several members of his inner circle,
including his chief of staff, testing positive for coronavirus.
A spokesman
for Pence disclosed late on Saturday that Marc Short, Pence’s chief of staff,
had tested positive for the virus. Pence and his wife, Karen, tested negative
earlier in the day and the vice-president will not alter his schedule, the
spokesman said. The New York Times reported that several other members of his
inner circle had also tested positive in recent days.
Short’s
diagnosis comes weeks after Covid-19 spread through the White House, infecting
President Donald Trump, the first lady and two dozen other aides, staffers and
allies.
Under criteria
from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the vice-president is
considered a “close contact” of his chief of staff but will not quarantine,
said a spokesman, Devin O’Malley.
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”. 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
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 is 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.”
After a day
of campaigning in Florida on Saturday, Pence was seen wearing a mask as he
returned to Washington onboard Air Force Two shortly after the news of Short’s
diagnosis was made public. He is scheduled to hold a rally on Sunday afternoon
in Kinston, North Carolina.
President
Trump commented on Short early Sunday after his plane landed at Joint Base
Andrews, outside Washington. “I did hear about it just now,” he said. “And I
think he’s quarantining. Yeah. I did hear about it. He’s going to be fine. But
he’s quarantining.”
Pence, who
has headed the White House coronavirus taskforce since late February, has
repeatedly found himself in an uncomfortable position balancing political
concerns with the administration’s handling of the pandemic, which has killed
more than 220,000 Americans. 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.
By virtue
of his position as vice-president, Pence is considered an essential worker. The
White House did not address how Pence’s political activities amounted to
essential work.
Short,
Pence’s most senior aide and one of his closest confidants, did not travel with
the vice-president on Saturday.
Pence’s
handling of his exposure to a confirmed positive case stands in contrast to how
the 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.
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