White House, Petri Dish

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Note the date..............


White House, Petri Dish

What I saw inside 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue today is cause for alarm.

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/08/white-house-coronavirus-measures/615841/?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=the-atlantic&utm_source=facebook&utm_content=edit-promo&utm_term=2020-10-02T11%3A27%3A26&fbclid=IwAR0yUjMhN0j2pABTfAh8xfwMJDj7mpldDr-MHG_ztOPnS6S9tZTisJE40Bs

Peter Nicholas

August 27, 2020

TriggerPhoto / Getty / NIAID / The Atlantic

During a reporting trip to the White House in late May, I passed through a magnetometer and met a government agent who pointed an infrared thermometer at my forehead. At that point, the United States was seeing about 21,000 new coronavirus cases a day. Had I been coughing or experienced any recent headaches? the agent asked. No, I said, and was allowed into the building. Today, the country is experiencing about twice as many new positive cases each day. Yet when I arrived at the White House this morning, I was struck by the lack of safety protocols in place.


The most famous address in America now feels like a coronavirus breeding ground. Later tonight, President Trump will address the nation from the White House’s South Lawn, where hundreds of chairs have been arranged with little regard for social distancing.


This afternoon, Secret Service agents checked to see if I was armed, but no one asked if I was ill. Upon reaching the entrance to the press-briefing room, I found the first indication that the nation is in the midst of a historic pandemic. A sign posted by the White House Correspondents’ Association instructed journalists to wear a mask and “spend as little time here as possible.” Beyond that, it was business as usual.........................

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