In Zeal to Urge U.S. Reopening, Pence Sets Virus Worries Aside
(Bloomberg) -- Vice President Mike Pence would not be deterred.
His press secretary, Katie Miller, had tested positive for coronavirus early Friday. Air Force Two sat on the tarmac of Joint Base Andrews outside Washington later in the morning, engines running, as six aides who’d been in contact with Miller left to be tested for infection and sent home to quarantine.
Reporters and some staff still aboard weren’t immediately told the reason for the delay. After an hour, the plane took off for a scheduled trip to Iowa, where Pence would nudge churches to carefully resume in-person services and hear concerns from farmers worried they’ll lose everything to the economic collapse from the outbreak.
During the flight, one White House staffer expressed surprise that Pence was pressing ahead. The plane’s passengers included Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley, who’s 86 -- elderly and male, a cohort highly vulnerable to the virus.
But the Trump administration is pressing Americans to resume their social and economic lives even in the face of the world’s largest publicly reported outbreak of the lethal virus.
Pence’s trip was intended to signal that Americans should consider resuming work and worship, and feel confident in their food supply, even though the largely rural state, population 3.1 million, has had more cases of the disease than South Korea and its 51 million people.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/in-zeal-to-urge-us-reopening-pence-sets-virus-worries-aside/ar-BB13QN5q?li=BBnb7Kz
