Name: Was Amy Coney Barrett’s Maskless Rose Garden Ceremony a Super-Spreader Event?
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Was Amy Coney Barrett’s Maskless Rose Garden Ceremony a Super-Spreader Event?

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Things you buy through our links may earn New York a commissionFirst it was Hope Hicks. Then . Then Senator Mike Lee from Utah. Then Notre Dame University president Father John Jenkins, Chris Christie, North Carolina senator Thom Tillis, and Kellyanne Conway.These are all prominent Republicans and members of Trump’s inner circle who attended SCOTUS pick Amy Coney Barrett’s , September 26, who now have tested positive for COVID-19. Given that the virus can incubate for up to two weeks before showing up in testing, it’s possible that any number of them could have been sick at the event, even those who have so far tested negative. Even more positive results are likely to follow. With at least seven people becoming infected there, Barrett’s nomination has become the possible site of a coronavirus super-spreader event — with massive implications. With at least three Republican senators in total infected with the virus (Ron Johnson of Wisconsin was not present but has tested positive), the GOP to confirm Barrett’s nomination after all.Which is why revisiting press footage of the ceremony in the White House Rose Garden is stunning, given how attendees were seen breaking nearly every pandemic protocol, despite the gravity of the moment: They shook hands, they hugged, and talked closely. Six of the seven infected guests were sitting in the first few rows of the mostly maskless crowd. Mike Lee in particular was documented in close proximity to a number of notable people throughout the day. In the video below, he is seen hugging a couple, who are then seen talking with and hugging Chris Christie; at another time, Lee posed with Barrett, indoors, for a photograph just a few feet away from her, both maskless.Barrett herself shook hands in a reception line in the same room with attendees, a slice of the ceremony captured in another photograph, an image that now reads like an infection vector diagram in retrospect. Other now-positive members are also from the mingling, indoors, without masks and with their families. “We don’t know that it’s a super-spreader event for sure, but it certainly has all the makings of one,” Joseph Allen, a public-health researcher at Harvard, . “When you have large numbers of people spending time in close contact, unmasked, and indoors, it’s a recipe for super-spreading.”Video of the ACB announcement event on Saturday at the WH featuring Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, who has now tested positive for Covid-19. via — southpaw (@nycsouthpaw)I was remarkably impressed by Judge Barrett. My meeting with her was fantastic. She is a judge, a legal scholar, and a lawyer with outstanding credentials. We had a great conversation and I am very much looking forward to speaking with her more during her confirmation hearing. — Mike Lee (@SenMikeLee)President Trump attended several large gatherings in the days before he tested positive for the coronavirus. Seven people who attended one of them, a nominating ceremony for Judge Amy Coney Barrett at the White House, have since tested positive. — The New York Times (@nytimes)From there, it’s not hard to spiral outward when thinking about just how many people could have been given the virus by those people since Saturday. Trump reportedly held several for Tuesday night’s presidential debate with Christie, Conway, and Bill Stepien, Trump’s campaign manager who has now — you guessed it — tested positive for COVID-19. The Trump family was then criticized for entering the debate maskless; a pool reporter a doctor handing out masks being deterred from giving them out to their guests. Trump did not get close, reportedly, to moderator Chris Wallace or the Biden campaign, but we also know that talking loudly in an indoor space can increase the chances of , even when very distanced.This was the Trump Family just a few days ago at the debates. Totally maskless. Totally reckless! — Makho Ndlovu (@makhondlovu)After the debate, Trump flew to Duluth, Minnesota, for a rally and fundraiser on Wednesday night, when started showing symptoms of coronavirus infection. He met unmasked with prominent donors, representatives, and state legislators. The fundraiser was held in a private suburban home, where “staff and guests lingered after the president was there,” and attendees “sang karaoke” with “their arms around each other.”On Wednesday, after White House officials learned of Hicks’s symptoms, according to the , “Trump and his entourage flew Thursday to New Jersey, where he attended a fundraiser at his golf club in Bedminster and delivered a speech. Trump was in close contact with dozens of other people, including campaign supporters, at a roundtable event. The president did not wear a mask Thursday, including at the events at his golf course and on the plane, officials said.” The White House gave New Jersey contract tracers the names of who should quarantine due to possible exposure after the Bedminster event. And the White House Correspondents’ Association is that three reporters and a White House staffer who sits with the press have tested positive. Now that Trump has been hospitalized, there are doubtless dozens of hospital staff and other essential workers fearing possible exposure — not to mention the Secret Service, catering staff, and others who worked the Rose Garden event in the first place.If I were not as peaceful and loving a person, I might think about how ironic it is that at an event attended by hard-line “pro-lifers” for a judge many people believe wants to see might have been a super-spreader event for a pandemic virus in part because attendees have amplified misinformation about in an attempt to science ahead of an election. And that this reckless behavior could now, quite possibly, finally be affecting them instead of the millions of Americans without their power and influence who have gotten sick and died. But, like I said, that’s if I were not as peaceful and loving as I am.Get the Cut newsletter delivered dailyThis site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Googleandapply.Vox Media, LLC Terms and Privacy NoticeBy submitting your email, you agree to our and and to receive email correspondence from us.Things you buy through our links may earn New York a commissionSign In to CommentThis site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Googleandapply.Already a subscriber? Sign InThis email will be used to sign into all New York sites. By submitting your email, you agree to our and and to receive email correspondence from us.Enter your email:Submit Emailedit emailForgot Password?Password must be at least 8 characters and contain:This password will be used to sign into all New York sites. 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Things you buy through our links may earn New York a commissionFirst it was Hope Hicks. Then . Then Senator Mike Lee from Utah. Then Notre Dame University president Father John Jenkins, Chris Christie, North Carolina senator Thom Tillis, and Kellyanne Conway.These are all prominent Republicans and members of Trump’s inner circle who attended SCOTUS pick Amy Coney Barrett’s , September 26, who now have tested positive for COVID-19. Given that the virus can incubate for up to two weeks before showing up in testing, it’s possible that any number of them could have been sick at the event, even...

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Was Amy Coney Barrett’s Maskless Rose Garden Ceremony a Super-Spreader Event?

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