The morning after she gaggled with reporters without a mask, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany has become the latest case in the White House COVID-19 hot spot. And she’s a little defensive about it.
“After testing negative consistently, including every day since Thursday, I tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday morning while experiencing no symptoms,” McEnany said in a statement. “No reporters, producers, or members of the press are listed as close contacts by the White House Medical Unit.”
“Moreover, I definitively had no knowledge of Hope Hicks’ diagnosis prior to holding a White House press briefing on Thursday,” McEnany continued, defensively. “As an essential worker, I have worked diligently to provide needed information to the American People at this time. With my recent positive test, I will begin the quarantine process and will continue working on behalf of the American People remotely.”
Okay, Kayleigh, you tested negative consistently but you were well aware that people can test negative right up until they test positive, and you still took off the mask to talk to reporters on Sunday. And somehow it doesn’t seem like those reporters feel like not being listed as close contacts makes it all good.
Throwing the Hope Hicks reminder in there doesn’t help McEnany’s case, either. “Hey, guys, neither time I put reporters at risk did I know I was doing so, for real.” McEnany refused to quarantine despite having had direct contact with Hicks—among other possible exposures—so even if she’s telling the truth—for once—about not having known about Hicks before Thursday’s press briefing, she’s spent the time since putting people at risk.
The woman works in a hotbed of coronavirus and it’s well known that there’s an incubation period, yet she’s acting like there’s no way she could have known better. She did know better. She chose fealty to Donald Trump and his opposition to public health.
You don’t know whether to laugh or cry: