White House Struggles With COVID Are An Ominous Sign For The Country
White House Struggles With COVID Are An Ominous Sign For The Country - Despite warnings from experts that the virus was still too active in the US to re-open the country, two weeks ago the White House itself returned to work. The Vice President traveled. Governors came to visit. Meetings with outside leaders including the House GOP leadership, which could have been held over video conference, were held inside the White House. Based on photos from then and subsequent days, the President, his team, and his visitors didn’t wear masks and didn't keep six feet apart.
Last week, as predicted, COVID came into the White House. At least two senior staffers and some number of Secret Service agents tested positive for the virus. Dr. Fauci and the heads of the FDA and CDC have all self-quarantined, as have some number of White House staffers. The Vice President announced that he was self-quarantining last night, but then reversed his decision soon after. White House economic advisor Kevin Hassett, in a TV interview yesterday morning, said that it was "scary to go to work" at the White House but that the urgency of our national challenges required staff there to risk it all, go in, and not work from home. Re-opening has become a chaotic and dangerous mess, even for the White House.
For every American trying to figure out how to navigate phase II, that the White House is on the verge of shutting down within days of re-opening is a clear sign of how hard these next few months are going to be. Perhaps emboldened by their access to rapid daily testing, the President, his staff, and their visitors haven’t followed the protocols - they haven’t worn masks and haven't stayed six feet apart. We don’t know whether they’ve eaten together and shared meals across from one another, but we have to assume that they have. And the virus came, quickly. Unlike the rest of us, however, their access to rapid testing may have caught the virus early, and prevented a huge outbreak which could have threatened the President himself. Most American workers will not be so lucky if the virus hits their workplace, as very few will have access to this level of testing each day. The virus will come, people will start to get sick, and lock downs will return. It is no wonder, then, that the public isn't happy with the President's COVID response.
As of Saturday, DC has the highest per capita rate of new infections of any state in the country - the virus is spreading faster here than anywhere else. A Senate hearing tomorrow on the virus will be conducted by a Committee Chairman in quarantine, working from home, and experts will also be quarantined and speaking from home. It will be another powerful reminder of our struggle to manage this extraordinary time and return to normal - re-opening here, in DC, carries incredible risks at this time for anyone.
At NDN, we hope that the President uses his own struggles with re-opening to help educate the country about the challenges ahead. The virus isn’t gone or receding - the US still has among the highest new infection rates of any nation on earth, and they aren’t dropping. Our "lockdowns" were not as aggressive as other nations, and thus didn’t get the virus under control in the way that we all would have wanted. We don’t have rapid ubiquitous testing in place, like the President does, which is needed to allow workplaces and communities to catch new infections early, isolate the sick, and allow people to keep working. Re-opening will require an incredible commitment to social distancing and masking (um, Mr. President); and if nothing else the President should admit his errors, and commit now to crashing a national testing/tracing/isolation regime for the country, a regime which has allowed his workplace to stay open. The President's repeated refusals to adhere to any of the things that experts have recommended to combat the virus - immediate national shelter-in-place, social distancing/masking, testing/tracing/isolation - remain inexplicable and terribly terribly reckless. He has the opportunity now to course correct, and to help us all learn from this experience. Re-opening now is fraught with risks, ones that he should be honest about; and risks which, if he is unwilling to admit and address, require Congress to step in and address for him.