"The two most powerful men in America now have coronavirus.
Vice President Mike Pence announced late Wednesday that he is among those who have tested positive in the ongoing White House coronavirus outbreak. Pence’s diagnosis puts the number of of recently-infected people in Trump’s circle at 21, according to the New York Times.
It comes after Pence, 61, had repeatedly said he tested negative for the virus, including before Wednesday night’s debate with Kamala Harris. During that debate, Pence frequently defended the administration’s response to coronavirus.
On Thursday evening, when Pence’s schedule in his home state of Indiana was scrapped for a return to D.C., the vice president’s director of communications, Katie Miller, tweeted that there was nothing out of the ordinary afoot. Miller, for her part, tested positive in May.
Oddly, one of the top comments about Pence during the debate related to his eyes. Some armchair epidemiologists speculated that, given the redness of his eyes, he might have coronavirus. While not a commonly documented symptom, it turns out they were right.
According to a doctor’s evaluation the V.P. released during the 2016 campaign, he is overall in “excellent” physical health. Like Trump, Pence does not drink. The only medication he takes is Claritin “for seasonal allergies.” Pence did have two basal cell carcinomas removed from his face, one in 2002 and another eight years later.
Pence’s declaration comes, of course after President Trump revealed early Friday morning that he and First Lady Melania Trump had tested positive.
The Wall Street Journal and other outlets reported that the president first tested positive on Thursday, but waited for the results of a second test before alerting others.
The results did not keep Trump from attending a fundraiser on Thursday with about 200 donors that was held partially indoors. Trump also knew at the time of the event that Hicks Had tested positive earlier in the day. Hicks flew twice with the president that week, according to WSJ.
The president has frequently been around other people without his mask, including at rallies and a gathering in 11 days ago in the White House Rose Garden for his supreme court nominee, Amy Coney Barrett. That event may have been a superspreader event given that all of the recent White House cases have been identified in the days since. According to the CDC, COVID-infected people may shed the virus for 10 days after the onset of symptoms. In rare cases, says the CDC, transmission may be possible up to 20 days after symptoms become apparent.
Pence was front and center at the event for Barrett. Others who attended and who have since tested positive include counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway, White House press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, Senator Mike Lee, Senator Thom Tillis and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who remains hospitalized."
https://deadline.com/2020/10/vice-president-mike-pence-tests-positive-has-coronavirus-after-donald-trump-1234594074/
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