My friend Terry posted on Facebook that she had seen someone wear a mask that said “This mask is as useless as our governor.” Her immediate thought: “Uncharitably, I want some people to get sick.”
How many of us have wished for severe consequences for those who don’t cooperate with Covid rules—and especially those who escape?
There is a long list of notables—including many in or near the White House—who have tested positive for Covid-19. A month ago it was five people in vice-president Pence’s “inner circle.” In spurts of news releases, we’ve heard that Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and HUD Secretary Ben Carson have been ill with it. Carson confessed to having been extremely ill, and credits the new antibody treatments for saving his life.
Forbes Magazine, certainly no screaming leftist journal, counted over fifty of President Trump’s inner circle testing positive, beginning with the president and first lady, and including sons Don Jr. and Barron, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany, and former White House counselor Kellyanne Conway. Two more recent high profile positives: Rudy Giuliani and Jenna Ellis. Giuliani was mildly ill, and received the scarce antibody treatment that Secretary Carson and the president received.
Two additions that slipped quickly by in news accounts: over 100 Secret Service agents tested positive; as did over 90 members of Congress—70 percent were Republicans! Large and largely unmasked events—e.g., the reception for new Supreme Court Justice Amy Barrett and the Trump election eve party—are often linked to the positive tests, but the severity of any illnesses and the reentries into normal life are rarely noted in the press.
How many of this large cohort of political people—mostly Republicans—got how sick? How much tracing has there been from super-spreader events—White House Receptions; Sturgis, SD? And what is the status of antibody treatments that worked well with Trump, Carson, and Giuliani? Limited, we understand; so who gets them?
Many of us wondering these things have quietly wished that some of these people would get sick enough to get up from their beds screaming for masks. Thus far we have Rudy Giuliani gloating, as he is released from the hospital, that “you can overdo the masks.”
It’s good to ask and wonder, hard not to wish some people ill. Terry asks that we look at the moon, that “even when small… negates the idea there are us and them.”
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