In what seems like rote reporting at this point, another vaccinated and boosted D.C. Establishment figure has tested positive for Covid. This time, Kamala Harris gets to take her turn thanking the wonderful performance of four shots for ensuring her bout with the virus is not as bad as it could have been.
Kirsten Allen, the press secretary for the Vice President, released this statement:
“Today, Vice President Harris tested positive for Covid-19 on rapid and PCR tests. She has exhibited no symptoms, will isolate and continue to work from the vice president’s residence.
She has not been a close contact to the President or First Lady due to their respective recent travel schedules. She will follow CDC guidelines and the advice of her physicians. The Vice President will return to the White House when she tests negative.”
Harris is not the first prominent politician or political-type to test positive in recent months.
In late March, for example, Jen Psaki tested positive for a second time. This was around the same time as Hillary Clinton. In early March, it was Barack Obama’s turn. (Somehow, he avoided illness after his huge birthday bash that saw another 100+ guests test positive). Before him, the nonagenarian Queen of England tested positive. She survived with little fanfare. Conveniently, Justin Trudeau tested positive for Covid right as the Freedom Convoy was making its way into Ottawa.
As for Harris, CNN’s coverage of her positive test received scant coverage. CNN wrote only a few lines about her positive test before discussing Covid and other measures more broadly.
“Vice President Kamala Harris tested positive for Covid-19 on Tuesday after returning from a weeklong trip to California, the White House announced…
Harris had been scheduled to receive her intelligence briefing at 10:15 am ET Tuesday at the White House alongside President Joe Biden, according to daily guidance sent to reporters Monday evening. She did not participate in any events or meetings at the White House on Tuesday, according to a White House official.”
Contrast that with its hair-on-fair reporting in October of 2020 when then-President Dinald Trump announced he had tested positive. CNN wrote this at the time:
“President Donald Trump…has several risk factors for more severe Covid-19 symptoms.
He is in a high-risk group simply by virtue of his age — he is 74 — and his weight. Trump is clinically obese, and obesity is a risk factor for a more severe form of the illness.
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, people in the 65-74 age range face a five times greater risk of hospitalization and a 90 times greater risk of death from Covid-19 compared to young adults between the ages of 18-29.
Based on his physical in April, CNN reported in June that President Trump weighed 244 pounds and is 6 feet 3 inches tall. That gives him a body mass index of 30.5, making him technically, if mildly, obese. Obesity triples the risk of hospitalization from Covid-19, according to the CDC.
Trump is also a male, and men are more likely to die or suffer severe illness from coronavirus than women, the leading health agency reported.”
