If You Don't Watch to Catch the COVID, Stay the Fuck Away From the White House!

 As you know, a White House cluster of COVID-19 cases was brought to light in early October after it was revealed that Donald Trump had tested positive.  At least 26 people were disclosed to have contracted the virus, and there was widespread concern that the Trump administration was failing to learn its lesson and take better care to prevent further outbreaks.

In the late October another report of outbreaks in the White House surfaced.  Mike Pence's chief of staff Marc Short, Pence aide Zach Bauer, outside adviser Marty Obst, and at least three staffers in Pence's office tested positive for the virus.  Short had been seen on the campaign trail actively eschewing the use of masks for months.  The White House actively tried to cover up the outbreaks in Pence's office-- and once they became known, refused to disclose the full extent of the outbreak.  Pence, who rarely wore a mask while flying on Air Force Two, continued campaign events, despite his direct exposure to the virus.

Amid all the excitement over the Biden victory, it has gone largely unnoticed that there is yet another White House outbreak of COVID-19.   Six White House aides and a Trump campaign adviser — including Mark Meadows, President Trump’s chief of staff — have contracted the coronavirus, raising fears of another outbreak sweeping through the ranks of the nation’s top officials as cases surge to record levels in the country.

Meadows, who routinely shrugged off the need to wear masks and embraced Trump’s strategy of playing down the threat from the coronavirus over the summer, informed a small group of White House advisers that he had tested positive for the virus the day after the election.  In addition, five other White House officials also tested positive for the virus in the days before and after Election Day.  Bloomberg News also reported on additional cases around the president, who contracted the virus last month and spent three days in the hospital receiving experimental treatments.  Nick Trainer, who worked on the president’s campaign, has also tested positive for the coronavirus, a person briefed on his diagnosis said.  It wasn't a day later that Ben Carson, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, revealed that he had tested positive.  David Bossie, an adviser Trump recently appointed to be the face of his efforts to contest vote tabulations in states like Nevada and Georgia, tested positive shortly thereafter.  White House Political Affairs Director Brian Jack later tested positive as well.

The new wave of infections rattled and angered members of the White House staff even as they struggled to come to grips with Trump’s loss in the presidential race.  News of the infections emerged despite warnings to keep quiet about the new cases, according to two White House officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to publicly discuss internal conversations.  Meadows and Trump have said repeatedly that they did not need to wear masks or maintain social distancing because they were frequently tested.  “It’s emblematic of the national failure to control Covid,” said Tom Frieden, who served as the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention under President Barack Obama. “It shows the fallacy of relying on testing alone. Testing doesn’t replace other safety measures. It’s just one tool among many.”

It is likely that all these new cases may actually be part of the original outbreak, rather than a separate cluster of cases. That would suggest that the White House has not gotten control of the virus as it spreads through the West Wing.  “It may be the same cluster that has continued for well over a month,” Dr. Frieden said. “You’re not going to control it if you don’t try to control it.”  I'm quite sure that Biden will insist on a thorough disinfection before he moves in on January 20.