The White House ceremony to announce Trump’s SCOTUS nominee Amy Coney Barrett one week ago today is now suspected to be the “super-spreader” event that has caused several republican attendees to test positive for COVID-19.⠀
More than 150 people that attended the September 26th outdoor event in the Rose Garden could be seen sitting closely (less than 6ft apart), not wearing masks, and hugging and touching other attendees.
According to CNN, video from the event showed Republican Senator Mike Lee of Utah, who has since tested positive for the virus, happily hugging other attendees. Lee, like many others in attendance, was seen carrying a mask instead of wearing it on his face. Attorney General William Barr and Dr. Scott Atlas, the most recent addition to the White House coronavirus taskforce, were even seen without masks and shaking hands with other attendees.
A colleague of Judge Barrett, the president of Notre Dame, Reverend John Jenkins, has also tested positive. And in an email sent to students, faculty, and staff, he admitted: “I regret my error of judgment in not wearing a mask during the ceremony and by shaking hands with a number of people in the Rose Garden.”
Friday night, former Trump aide Kellyanne Conway and Republican Senator Thom Tillis became the latest attendees to reveal their positive diagnosis, bringing the total number of confirmed cases thus far to 7.
