Waiting for a COVID shoe to drop ... in the Oval Office ... with a P.S. 5/5/22

Last update: Saturday 5/7/22 

Hopefully, the editor of this blog will delete this note in a few days because the dreaded possibility that it anticipates will not have occurred, that possibility being that President Biden catches COVID as a result of his attending the White House correspondents’ gala two nights ago without wearing an N95 mask. The gala was a potential super spreader that Dr. Fauci declined to attend.  

If no shoe drops, we will not be out of the woods, just back on its fretful border because this president will probably continue to behave in ways that display a high risk tolerance for a virus whose most vulnerable victims have been the oldest members of our society. Such a high tolerance for risk is inappropriate for a 79 year old occupant of the Oval Office.

• "White House correspondents’ dinner: Biden jokes about return to near-normal", Paul Farhi, Washington Post, 5/1/22  Note: Dr. Fauci, 81, did not attend "because of my individual assessment of my personal risk'", but President Biden, 79, did attend without any kind of mask.
  
  
• "Mask, no mask: Biden’s pandemic practices vary as covid risks grow", Annie Linskey and Dan Diamond, Washington Post, 4/9/22
  
  
• "A fight over coronavirus safety at journalists’ gala event", Dan Diamond and Paul Farhi , Washington Post, 4/27/22

P.S. Wed 5/7/22

• "A handful of coronavirus cases emerge after the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.", Anushka Patil, NY Times, 5/4/22
• "Yes, a lot of White House correspondents’ guests are testing positive", Chris Cameron, Washington Post, 5/5/22
• "Fauci privately miffed about the message sent by the WHCA dinner", Adam Cancryn, Politico, 5/4/22 *** 

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Links to related notes on this blog:

• "One size fits all notions of 'new normal' pose threats to our national security", Last update: 4/9/22
• "Protecting our elderly U.S. president from Omicron with booster shots ... or not", Last update: 4/29/22