Mike Pence Shook Hands With Classmates of Student Under Coronavirus Quarantine

(TMU) — Florida Governor Ron DeSantis declared a public health emergency this week after two people in the state tested positive for COVID-19.

One of the sick residents is an adult with no clear link to the countries where the virus is widespread, leading some to believe there are many other cases and carriers in the state that have not yet been tested.

Health officials are also putting contacts of these patients into quarantine as a matter of precaution because this virus is so contagious. One of the people in quarantine for this reason happens to be a student whose classmates shook hands with Vice President Mike Pence last week.

On Friday, just days after being named by Donald Trump as the head of the outbreak response task force, Pence was at Sarasota Military Academy in Florida shaking hands with cadets and posing for photographs.

Of course, the student who is at risk was in quarantine and not at the event with Mike Pence, but a coronavirus patient was mere points of unprotected contact away from the President of the United States.

Pence’s press secretary, Katie Miller, said that the student and his mother are in quarantine as a precaution, but they have not shown symptoms of the virus themselves.

Can we all take a deep breath? @Mike_Pence did not meet or come into contact at all with this student. https://t.co/uLzvnVcoS4

— Devin O’Malley (@VPPressSec) March 3, 2020

According to a statement from the school, the student’s mother reportedly cared for one of the sick patients in a medical capacity at Sarasota Doctors Hospital.

No other details about the case are available.

Studies have shown that the incubation period for the virus is unusually long and that it is possible for people to be carriers of the virus even if they aren’t exhibiting symptoms themselves. Pence should be at least a little bit nervous that he was only a few points of contact away from an infected individual. We can only hope that the Vice President is following the CDC’s advice about social distancing and hand washing, but that doesn’t appear to be the case, as evidenced by the viral video below.

Today at the corona virus press conference, @VP wiped his nose with his hands then proceeded to shake everyone’s hands ??

Pence is leading the response against #coronavirus pic.twitter.com/Bb54CzXsUe

— Nathaniel O’Dell #BlackLivesMatter (@ODell_Nathaniel) February 27, 2020

By John Vibes | Creative Commons | TheMindUnleashed.com