Does Pence Have Coronavirus Already-- And Who Has He Spread It To In The White House?

CoronavirusCzar Mike Pence by Nancy Ohanian

One in 10 members of the Iranian parliament (the Majlis) has tested positive for coronavirus. Yesterday, a close Pelosi ally in Congress told me she;'s considering adjourning Congress for "a while." The feeling in the non-denying House is that members of Congress are out in every corner of the country shaking hands and then coming back to Washington in close quarters with each other-- and then go blackout to their districts to shake hands with more people. Most Americans understand by now that Trump can be counted on to make every possible wrong decision at every turn-- and that he never appoints any good people to any jobs. And that includes, of course, battling coronavirus. Maybe Jared would have been a better pick than Pence for this one too, who, Trump said, was chosen because he doesn't have anything else to do. When I noticed on Monday, at AIPAC, that Paul Begala predicted that Trump is "gonna dump Mike Pence" for Nikki Haley on July 16-- presumably the day Bernie makes his acceptance speech-- I was, to put it mildly, dubious. But Begala went on that the excuse would be Pence's failure to handle the coronavirus, expected to be a catastrophic pandemic by then-- adequately.

"This is not a prediction. It’s a certainty. On Thursday, July 16-- that’s the date the Democrat gives his or her acceptance address-- on that day, to interrupt that narrative, Donald Trump will call a press conference at Mar-a-Lago. He’s going to dump Mike Pence and put Nikki Haley on the ticket to try to get those suburban moms. You watch. Guaranteed," Begala said. “Trump put Pence in charge of coronavirus to throw him under the bus."

Or... maybe not. Pence will be 61 in June. People over 50 who contract coronavirus have an extraordinary chance of dying, whereas people under 50 usually seem to weather it pretty well. And Pence may well already be carrying coronavirus. [WARNING to all DWT readers: do not get anywhere near Mike Pence, let alone shake hands with him!] Why?

Last Friday Pence was at a fundraiser in Longboat Key (Sarasota, Florida) at the home of Congressman Vern Buchanan, where he shook hands and posed for photos with a cadet from the Sarasota Military Academy who is now under quarantine after his mother-- who is also under quarantine-- come in contact with a patient who tested positive for coronavirus.

Meanwhile, the Washington Post reported that "The U.S. death toll from the coronavirus rose to six on Monday, and patients were being treated in at least 15 states, deepening fears about the outbreak's rapid spread and the medical, psychological and economic toll it will exact on the United States. Four deaths announced Monday and two others this weekend all occurred in Washington state, the center of the nation’s most serious outbreak. Eight of the state’s 18 cases, as well as four of the deaths, are linked to the Life Care Center nursing home in Kirkland, Wash., and at least 50 other residents and staff members have reported coronavirus-like symptoms. King County leaders declared a state of emergency, and health officials said they are trying to figure out how far the outbreak has expanded into surrounding counties. Nationwide, the number of cases topped 100, and U.S. officials used increasingly dire language, even as they sought to push back against waves of panic and misinformation online. 'We know there will be more cases,' Vice President Pence said at a White House news conference. 'Now we’re focused on mitigation of the spread as well as treatment of people that are affected.' Trump administration officials stressed Monday that the risk posed to the public by the coronavirus remains low but cautioned the outbreak could change course as the disease spreads through person-to-person contact."

Other states with confirmed coronavirus patients include Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Texas, Utah and Wisconsin. It's unlikely a vaccine will be available before 2022, but Trump noted on Monday that "the market’s up today... our country’s very strong economically." He then started whining about the Federal Reserve not doing enough (to prop up the economy and his case for reelection). That was a typical bear trap and Tuesday the Dow Jones was down over 786 points by the end of the day-- even after the Fed announced a half point interest rate cut. (Remember, they don't have too many half points left to cut, largely due to Trump's personal, self-serving agenda-- and the markets know it.)

Nationwide, signs of spreading panic included the stockpiling of food, sanitizers and cleaning supplies.

At the Trader Joe’s in Mountain View, Calif., the freezer sections were empty of pizza and most ready-made meals. There was no pasta or rice. Across town at the Costco near Google’s headquarters, customers climbed shelves to reach groceries, and lines snaked through the aisles.

A Whole Foods employee in Los Altos, Calif., said the store was out of “pasta, beans, frozen vegetables, hand sanitizer, toilet paper, paper towels. “I’ve worked here 10 years, and I’ve never seen anything like this,” she said.

Health officials continued to beg Americans to stop buying masks and save them for health workers who truly need them. On cable news, U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams argued that consumers who buy masks “actually can increase the spread of coronavirus” because people who wear them improperly tend to fidget with their masks and touch their faces repeatedly.

Online, Amazon shoppers in Seattle, San Francisco, New York and Washington also ran into problems, with the company warning customers that its same-day grocery-delivery service “may be limited” amid reports of consumers stocking up.

...Meanwhile, worsening situations in various countries overseas offered possible signs of what may lie ahead for the United States.

Schools across Japan mostly closed their doors Monday in response to a controversial request by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe last week to make a concerted attempt to slow the spread of the virus.

South Korea said it would extend its school closures by two weeks to March 23, its education minister announced.

Japanese officials studying the outbreak on the Diamond Princess cruise ship said more than half of those infected-- nealy 400 out of 705 people who tested positive-- showed no symptoms, underscoring just how difficult the virus is to detect and how many people may have contracted it without knowing it. Some would never have been tested unless they had been onboard the ship, they said. While many people appear able to shrug off the virus, it clearly is devastating to the elderly and people with underlying health problems. At least seven of the cruise ship passengers died.

The European Union’s internal market commissioner said Monday the coronavirus has led to about $1.1 billion in losses per month for the European tourism industry since the start of 2020. And British Airways on Monday said it was canceling hundreds of flights-- including a dozen between London and New York-- in response to the coronavirus outbreak.

An adviser to Iran’s supreme leader died after contracting the coronavirus, state media reported Monday. Iraq and Egypt confirmed more cases, many of them linked to Iran.

Senegal confirmed its first case, marking the second case found in sub-Saharan Africa. Global health officials have expressed strong worries that the epidemic and death toll could grow rapidly if it reaches areas such as Africa, which in many places lacks the resources and the health infrastructure to combat the virus. Nigeria, the continent’s most populous country and biggest economy, announced last week that doctors had diagnosed the illness in a businessman from Italy.

Yesterday, The Guardian reported that "Pence’s public health record is disastrous. As the governor of Indiana, Pence was responsible for the largest HIV outbreak in state history. He slashed public health spending, triggering the closure of HIV testing sites. Against the advice of scientists, he banned needle exchanges, causing transmissions to spread due to increased needle sharing. Pence has also downplayed the link between smoking and cancer. 'Despite the hysteria from the political class and the media,' he once wrote in an opinion piece, 'smoking doesn’t kill.' In fact, research shows that as high as two out of three smokers die from a smoking-related illness. Pence’s track record should disqualify him for any leadership positions in public health... Pence’s appointment follows a track record of the administration prioritizing politics over scientific expertise. Trump has appointed fossil fuel lobbyists to lead the EPA, climate deniers to head up Nasa and the Council on Environmental Quality, Dow executives to USDA leadership, and a chemical industry insider to run the EPA’s toxic chemicals program. These appointments have eroded public trust and shifted the priorities of these agencies from saving lives to special interests... Now is the time for honest and humble governance. Viruses don’t discriminate between liberals and conservatives. Dedicated and talented government scientists are working hard to protect us all. We should allow them the freedom to get on with their important jobs."