Twitter Asks ‘Where’s The Masks?’ After VP Mike Pence Tweets Photo of Mask-Less WH Coronavirus Task Force Meeting

Sarah RumpfAug 27th, 2020, 11:14 pm
 

Screenshot via @Mike_Pence on Twitter.

Vice President Mike Pence posted several photos from a meeting of the White House’s coronavirus task force on his Twitter account Thursday, drawing comments questioning the lack of social distancing or face masks in the photos of the very group of people who have been recommending that Americans follow both those rules.

Along with Pence, Dr. Deborah Birx, Assistant Health Secretary Adm. Brett Giroir, Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia, OMB Director Russell Vought, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue and others are seen in the photos, mostly seated around an oval table, with a few staffers seated in the corners of the small room. No one is pictured wearing a mask and only a few feet separate the chairs. The room is an enclosed indoor space without windows.

Dozens of replies to Pence’s tweet commented on the lack of masks.

To be clear, one reason that the task force members may have felt that masks and social distancing were not quite as pertinent for them is because they all receive frequent, if not daily, coronavirus tests with rapid results. The people pictured in the photos Pence tweeted have access to free tests with rapid results, allowing them to resume their work duties in a normal fashion, a scene that would have been mundane and uneventful before the pandemic began.

This is not the situation in which the vast majority of Americans find themselves. Many people do have access to free or inexpensive tests, but results still take days, sometimes even a week or two, to be returned in many areas around the country.

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Sarah Rumpf - Contributing Editor

Sarah Rumpf joined Mediaite in 2020 and is a Contributing Editor focusing on politics, law, and the media. A native Floridian, Sarah attended the University of Florida, graduating with a double major in Political Science and German, and earned her Juris Doctor, cum laude, from the UF College of Law. Sarah's writing has been featured at National Review, The Daily Beast, Reason, Law&Crime, Independent Journal Review, Texas Monthly, The Capitolist, Breitbart Texas, Townhall, RedState, The Orlando Sentinel, and the Austin-American Statesman, and her political commentary has led to appearances on television, radio, and podcast programs across the globe. Follow Sarah on Threads, Twitter, and Bluesky.