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WH Correspondents’ Dinner Turning Into ‘Super Spreader’

By Pluralist / May 5, 2022

As we reported, the Gridiron Dinner became a great spreader last month for COVID.

So when they had the White House Correspondents’ Dinner this past weekend, Trevor Noah — the featured speaker — joked that this would be the next super spreader.

He also joked that Dr. Anthony Fauci was not coming due to concern about the virus. But then Fauci did attend a packed pre-dinner party without a mask despite his protestations, so I’m not sure that was a big difference.

A Washington Post reporter posted about the horror of people crowding together at dinner. You even saw people measure the amount of CO2 present in the room, and they said that it had poor filtration. Even though the White House was still encouraging people to go, it wasn’t until two weeks later. wear masks on planes,Despite being extremely filtered on the aircrafts, almost all of the guests looked to be wearing masks at the WHCD’s poorly filtered WHCD. Joe Biden was one exception.

It is not surprising that people are complaining about being packed together at dinner, Jada Yuan (White House reporter) – have started to report on the outbreak.

ABC’s Jonathan Karl has also tested positive. His Jan. 6 coverage earned him an award.

Karl falsely claimed that President Donald Trump urged “an angry mob to confront members of Congress.” Trump did no such thing, he urged people to act “peacefully and patriotically.” So much for the claim of Karl’s colleague that his coverage didn’t hit “one false note.” That’s what they gave an award for.

Karl got to know a lot more people during the dinner, and also touched base with Joe Biden.

In the aftermath of the dinner, a number of reporters from other media outlets tested positive for COVID. Steven Herman of the VOAAnd Julia Ioffe.

Antony Blinken (Secretary of State), was also present at the dinner.

Another thing to mention about the dinner was that they were given some scientific help in protecting themselves against the virus.

Don Milton, a University of Maryland environmental scientist who has advised the White House and others on airborne transmission, said his offer to have a company install the devices at no charge was rebuffed by both the correspondents’ association and the Washington Hilton, which is hosting the event. “I enlisted a team of scientists and germicidal UV lighting companies to provide, as a demonstration project at no cost, a temporary installation to help protect the White House correspondents’ dinner,” Milton said. “Unfortunately, it has not worked out.” [….]

Milton, a University of Maryland expert said that he had advised organizers to go further and install lights that actively cleaned the air. “When you gather that many people together, you’ve really got to have highly effective air sanitation systems. Just ventilation and filtration aren’t enough,” Milton said.

After dozens of coronavirus infections were linked to the Gridiron Club dinner three weeks ago, Milton said, he had reached out to the correspondents’ association and arranged a conversation with a vendor, Far UV, that would have temporarily set up more than 100 devices at the Washington Hilton. These ranged in size from tiny lamps with portable lighting that could be placed around the room to smoke detectors.

But WHCA officials said the conversations came too late in their planning, and that they feared the lights might irritate the eyes of attendees, interfere with servers trying to navigate the ballroom — and even make someone like Biden look blue when he addressed the crowd.

Milton stated that the technology was effective. He noted that the White House had last month praised the UV disinfecting light as a way to combat the coronavirus and federal regulators also support its use. He stated that Far UV or any other company who develops ultraviolet devices did not have any financial relationships with him.

They turned down the devices, partly because they would have made Joe Biden appear blue. Seriously?

Now there’s an interesting kicker to this story. It says the White House now promotes the UV disinfectant light’s benefits. Is that not a bell? One person who tried to discuss the benefits of Ultraviolet Light acting as a Disinfectant before the media discredited him and suggested that people inject bleach. You got it, that was Trump — ahead of the curve back two years ago, April 2020. He was mocked and the Biden White House now promotes the idea, as per this report. It might have been helpful if the media had turned down protection. Maybe they should have been listening to what Trump and this scientist were talking about — it might have helped. Trump explained what he meant to one reporter within seconds of explaining it to them back in 2020. Jon Karl.

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