Editorial: White House does not care about outbreak

Staff Editorial

Even more evidence that President Trump and his administration seemingly do not care about COVID-19 or take it seriously presented itself Tuesday.

The White House will apparently not be contact tracing the attendees of a celebration of Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination to the Supreme Court that took place in the Rose Garden Sept. 26.

The event was short on masks, short on social distancing and apparently very high on COVID-19. Multiple attendees have tested positive for the virus since the event took place, some of which were seen hugging and speaking in close proximity with each other.

We at The Daily Eastern News believe that not doing contact tracing for this event is negligent and dangerous. It may allow the virus to spread even more, endangering people who did not even attend the event.

Contact tracing is a vital part of the fight against COVID, but it comes as no surprise that the White House is not taking it seriously.

In recent days, Trump has tested positive for the virus, made the Secret Service drive  him past a crowd of supporters, been prematurely released from the hospital and then told Americans not to worry about the virus that has killed over 200,000 fellow Americans.

Not only do we all need to worry about COVID-19, but we need to worry about the White House’s complete lack of interest in the virus’ devastating toll.