A U.S. President’s Positive Covid Test: Is Herd Immunity Next?
I suspect most of us expected this, in time.
The President and First Lady of the United States have been diagnosed with Covid-19 tonight.
For now they are both, per news reports, asymptomatic.
The beginnings of the news broke early on October 1, 2020. Hope Hicks, counselor to Donald Trump, had tested positive for the novel coronavirus. Trump and other high-level officials in his administration were on Marine One the day before heading to a rally in Minnesota. Also on the flight were Jared Kushner, Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications Dan Scavino. and Department of Defense consultant Nicholas Luna. Images as provided by CNN showed no one wearing any masks and the quarters on the craft highly cramped.
Trump announced on Sean Hannity’s show tonight he and Melania were quarantining prior to the announcement of his diagnosis.
14 days is the current recommended quarantine period.
We can all talk about “justice served” and over 200,000 dead.
We can all say, “It is what it is” and we will not be wrong.
But now is not the time, other than to say each and every one of those who passed away from this virus mattered too. Each and every one, many of whom did not have to die.
The culture of the current White House was not favorable to preventing this inevitability. We as a country are now vulnerable, from factions both inside and out, and this could have been avoided.
Donald John Trump has put the United States of America at risk with his selfishness.
We are all going to be on pins and needles for a few days, weeks, or months trying to figure exactly what the hell is going to be in our country.
And … we are all going to be playing guessing games whether Trump recovers or does not, because either answer will have seismic repercussions.
I’d venture to guess one inevitability. Herd immunity will happen now, and the bodycount will be increasingly tragic.
Why?
Because those who have not been wearing masks all along still won’t, I’d venture to guess. I hope I’m wrong.
I really do.
I resent Donald Trump to the nth degree. I don’t wish him to die from this virus, though I personally know people who have.
Truth is I wish him to recover, get the hell out of office, and face any charges that may well come his way due to how he’s swindled not only the American people these last four years, but thousands over his lifetime.
To achieve “herd immunity,” estimates are over 70% of the U.S. population, or 231 million of 330 million people, must be infected with the virus. Assuming a near 3% fatality rate, that means approximiately 6.93 million dead.
Hopefully, instead, we’ll all get smart. Mask up. Keep distant. Quarantine.
Today is a tragedy, and a sad reality check.
We as a country have every right to be angry.
