Mike Pence seems to think homophobia can protect him from coronavirus as he disrespects hospital mask policy
Vice President Mike Pence failed to wear a mask while speaking with coronavirus patients.
Vice president Mike Pence is under fire for wilfully disregarding a hospital’s mask-wearing policy while meeting coronavirus patients.
Pence, who is taking a break from his long career of fomenting anti-LGBT+ hatred to lead the White House efforts to tackle coronavirus, paid a visit to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota on Monday.
But while the hospital policy directs that “all patients, visitors and staff [should] wear a face covering or mask to slow the spread of COVID-19”, Pence was filmed wandering around mask-free – even as he met with patients recovering from the virus.
Vice president ignored mask instructions at hospital.
In a tweet, the hospital clarified after the incident: “Mayo Clinic had informed [the vice president] of the masking policy prior to his arrival today.”
However, the message was mysteriously deleted after Pence began to receive criticism.
Pence has insisted that there is no need for him to wear a mask because he is “regularly tested” for coronavirus.
He insisted to reporters “As vice president of the United States, I’m tested for the coronavirus on a regular basis, and everyone who is around me is tested for the coronavirus.
“When the CDC issued guidelines about wearing a mask it was their recognition that people that may have the coronavirus could prevent the possibility of conveying the virus to someone else by wearing a mask, and since I don’t have the coronavirus I thought it would be a good opportunity for me to be here to be able to speak to these researchers, these incredible health-care personnel and look them in the eye and say, ‘Thank you.'”
Of course, the refusal to wear a mask could also be interpreted as an act of supine obedience towards Donald Trump, who has publicly insisted that he will defy the CDC guidelines on mask wearing.
Flanked by Mike Pence, President Donald Trump speaks during daily briefing of the coronavirus task force at the White House. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Don’t take science tips from Mike Pence.
Either way, we’re not planning on taking any science tips from Mike Pence, a man who has derided the “theory” of evolution and once sparked a major HIV outbreak in Indiana by overriding experts to close down prevention programmes.
A hospital containing literal coronavirus patients is not the most noxious place that Pence has been recently.
In January, the White House live-streamed Pence’s visit to a church in Memphis – where a religious leader claimed that homosexuals are possessed by demons and that animals can’t be gay.
