Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Pence's Team Now Infected By COVID: Chief Of Staff, Top Aides Test Positive
The Wall Street Journal: Pence’s Chief Of Staff And Other Key Aides Test Positive For Coronavirus
At least five people close to Vice President Mike Pence, including his chief of staff and a top campaign adviser, have tested positive for Covid-19, but with just days left until Election Day, President Trump’s running mate will maintain a busy campaign schedule. Mr. Pence, the head of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, has been in close contact with his chief of staff Marc Short, who tested positive on Saturday, the vice president’s spokesman Devin O’Malley said. (Bender, Toy and Hernandez, 10/25)
NPR: Marc Short, Pence Chief Of Staff, Tests Positive For Coronavirus
But Pence — who is considered to have had close contact with his most senior adviser — decided to "maintain his schedule in accordance with the CDC guidelines for essential personnel," O'Malley said in a statement, noting that Pence had consulted with White House physicians. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's guidelines for essential workers who have had close contact with an infected person include wearing a mask for 14 days "at all times while in the workplace." (Bowman, Keith, Ordonez and Sprunt, 10/25)
The Hill: Pence Travel Questioned After Aides Test Positive
[White House] chief of staff [Mark Meadows] stressed that Pence is “wearing a mask, socially distancing and when he goes up to speak he will take the mask off, put it back on.” The vice president was not wearing a mask while speaking at a rally in Tallahassee, Fla. on Saturday. (Coleman, 10/25)
In related news —
Axios: Ex-FDA Chief: Pence Campaigning After COVID Exposure Puts Others At Risk
Former FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb said "the short answer is yes" when asked whether Vice President Mike Pence is putting others at risk by continuing to campaign after several aides tested positive for COVID-19, stressing that the White House needs to be "very explicit about the risks that they're taking." (10/25)
AP: Health Experts Question Pence Campaigning As Essential Work
Health policy specialists questioned White House officials’ claim that federal rules on essential workers allow Vice President Mike Pence to continue to campaign and not quarantine himself after being exposed to the coronavirus. Campaigning is not an official duty that might fall under the guidelines meant to ensure that police, first responders and key transportation and food workers can still perform jobs that cannot be done remotely, the health experts said. (Marchione, 10/25)
The New York Times: Infection Of Pence Aides Raises New Questions About Trump’s Virus Response
“Covid, Covid. Covid, Covid, Covid, Covid,” President Trump groused at a rally in North Carolina on Saturday, expressing dismay that the deadly coronavirus pandemic had come to dominate the final days of his struggling re-election campaign. He made up a scenario: “A plane goes down, 500 people dead, they don’t talk about it. ‘Covid, Covid, Covid, Covid.’” But just seven hours later, the White House made its own Covid headlines when officials acknowledged that another coronavirus outbreak had struck the White House, infecting Vice President Mike Pence’s chief of staff and four other top aides — and raising new questions about the Trump administration’s cavalier approach to the worst health crisis in a century. (Shear, Karni, Haberman and Gay Stolberg, 10/25)
