The vice presidential debate on Wednesday should not go forward. It is irresponsible, it is dangerous, and it is an unwarranted reward for a White House that is still covering up the extent of the outbreak centered around Donald Trump as we speak. It is as simple as that.
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In a concession to common sense, the Commission on Presidential Debates has agreed to demands from the Joe Biden and Kamala Harris campaign that a plexiglass barrier be installed between Harris and Vice President Mike Pence during tomorrow's debate. That’s a half-measure, but only a half-measure. Even the Trump-led Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) now acknowledge that the virus responsible for COVID-19 is spread via airborne particles and aerosols. A plexiglass shield will stop large particles, as from a sneeze, but will have little effect on the overall air circulation. Enclosed spaces and loud talking for long durations are among the conditions believed to be most likely to spread infections. The dangers, especially after Trump may already have exposed Biden to the disease, are unacceptable.
It is not just Harris who is put in danger. In the aftermath of last Tuesday's Trump-Biden event, 11 members of the debate staff and attending press tested positive for the virus. The White House is currently a known COVID-19 hotspot—and spreading, with Trump's closest military aid and now even top military officials being forced to self-quarantine after exposure. Even if Pence himself continues to test negative, he will be accompanied by an assortment of aides and staffers who may themselves have been exposed.
If the White House will not take quarantine seriously, then at the very least Harris should not assist in their irresponsibility.
The final reason to cancel the debate, however, is because the White House appears to almost certainly be lying about the extent of the outbreak surrounding Donald Trump. There are numerous reasons to believe the White House learned of Trump's infection before last week's debate with Joe Biden, but covered it up to avoid the "optics" of having to cancel that debate. Trump's White House doctor, his press secretary, and other members of the White House have absolutely refused to clarify when Trump was first thought to be infected despite there being no plausible reason to hide that information other than to avoid White House embarrassment or scandal.
That silence is now becoming deafening.
Why the White House is so confident that Pence is not infected is unclear. It’s possible that Pence was already infected with the virus earlier in the year when his closest aide tested positive; again, we can't presume the Trump-Pence team would not have covered such a thing up. That does not mean that his entire entourage is clear of infection—not with the extent of the White House outbreak still being intentionally covered up by the White House.
It's preposterous to be conducting a face-to-face debate in these circumstances. It’s irresponsible. It will almost certainly lead to more infections. If the White House cannot even disclose when its own outbreak began, much less its scope, headed by a man who continues to glibly expose all around him to a deadly virus as he himself insists he has overcome the illness, the administration has absolutely no credibility in claiming its debate delegation presents no risk.
It is likely that Trump himself will still be contagious when the next Trump-Biden debate is scheduled to take place. That event, too, cannot take place. It's looking more and more like Donald Trump intentionally exposed both Biden and the debate's guests to the virus even though the White House knew or suspected he was infected. The White House’s unwillingness to address this issue is reason enough to cancel all debates going forward, period.
The Trump-Pence team is a menace to public health. If they will not take the pandemic seriously, or even their own White House outbreak seriously, Harris and Biden must enforce basic precautions themselves. Cancel the debate. Cancel all of them. We don't need them; the public risk far outweighs the campaign gain.