And These Are Supposed to Be the Sane Ones

It looks like the Democratic National Convention was a Covid superspreader event.

This is usually the point where I say, "Wear your f%$#ing mask," but the DNC banned masks, because the Democratic Party establishment (There is no Democratic Party establishment) are a bunch of f%$#ing morons:

People often leave political conventions with lots of good memories and fun souvenirs, but some participants in the recent Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Chicago also brought home an unwelcome visitor: COVID-19.

"Ugh: DNCovid-24," Doug Sovern, a political reporter at San Francisco's KCBS, wrote on X, adding a photo of his positive test result. "I brought home an unfortunate souvenir from #DNC2024. And so did many of my fellow convention crew. I guess 4 hours of sleep a night + endless work + close indoor proximity to so many people = my first COVID since the NBA Finals in 2021."

"Oh man! I brought home so much sweet swag from the DNC!" said Fred Wellman, a retired Army officer, in a social media post that has since been deleted. "Coffee mugs, stickers, t-shirts, poster, buttons, bags, pins, and...COVID!"

"I arrived at the DNC healthy and hopeful and left very sick and disillusioned," wrote Yasmine Taeb, a human rights lawyer, who, like Sovern, also posted a photo of her positive test on X.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton -- one of the event's marquee speakers -- also came down with COVID. The illness forced her to drop out of a Democratic fundraiser she had planned to attend.

The Democratic National Committee, which hosted the convention, gave convention-goers conflicting guidance regarding masking, one of the prime COVID prevention strategies. In its convention FAQ, the "Public Health and Safety" section says the following regarding COVID: "The 2024 Democratic National Convention Committee adheres to current guidance from relevant public health authorities regarding COVID-19. Masking is not required at convention events, but any participant desiring to wear a mask is welcome to do so."

Yeah, it's OK, but not really OK:

However, in the "Accessibility" section of the same document, a question about whether attendees are allowed to wear masks at the two main convention venues is answered as follows: "Yes, masks will be allowed if necessary due to a disability. You may be asked to remove your mask when going through security." The committee did not respond by press time to an email asking about whether any COVID precautions were taken at the event, at which very few masks were visible. 

Yeah, you can wear a mask, but security will harass you.

This is in the middle of the biggest Covid outbreak in about 2 years:

………

Katelyn Jetelina, PhD, MPH, the author of the "Your Local Epidemiologist" newsletter, told MedPage Today that she was "not surprised at all."

"We are in the middle of a massive infection wave and, presumably, a national gathering like this provides new social networks for the virus to explore," said Jetelina, who is a senior scientific consultant to the CDC. "There are a lot of things people could do to prevent this from happening, including wearing a high-quality mask to the event. Unfortunately, when I was watching from television, I saw very few utilizing this tool."

I'm not surprised. They are f%$#ing morons.

And the other side is as least as stupid, and bat-sh%$ insane as well.

I am not fond of the available choices.