There’s been a fufuraw over Senator Paul Rand’s (R-KY) behavior. He was given the test for infection by SARS-CoV-2, the virus behind the COVID-19 disease, on March 16, and then carried on with his life as a US Senator as if nothing was wrong.
A week later, the test came back positive. For an entire week, a US Senator, working at the S capitol, has potentially been exposing other denizens[1] of the US Capitol to SARS-CoV-2, depending on when an infected person begins producing and shedding viruses.
The Senator’s defense?
“Given that my wife and I had traveled extensively during the weeks prior to COVID-19 social distancing practices,” he said, “and that I am at a higher risk for serious complications from the virus due to having part of my lung removed seven months ago, I took a COVID-19 test when I arrived in D.C. last Monday. I felt that it was highly unlikely that I was positive since I have had no symptoms of the illness, nor have I had contact with anyone who has either tested positive for the virus or been sick.”
Which all sounds very reasonable. I accepted it for a couple of hours, but it bugged me. So think about it.
What is quarantining all about? It’s not about self-care. It won’t make the person in quarantine healthier! It’s about caring, by not exposing, the other members of society! When Senator Rand confused the priority of his own personal desires with the judgment of epidemiologists world wide, he committed an increasingly common amateur mistake on the right, the belief that their opinion is better than the experts.
That’s fine when it’s your backfiring car you’re trying to fix.
That’s inexcusable when it comes to a potentially terminal virus for which there’s neither cure nor vaccine as yet. By not quarantining after taking the test, he’s negated most of the worth of that test.
It’s not surprising in the least that he refuses to take any responsibility for this mistake, as we see above and in this limp defense:
His office defends Paul’s decision by saying he left the Senate after realizing he tested positive. “As soon as he got the results, he left the building,” the office said.
Oh boy, leaving who knows how many Senators in deep shit? Several GOP Senators who were in Rand’s vicinity immediately, much to their credit, went into self-quarantine for two weeks, and since they’re in quarantine, they can’t vote. We can at least applaud Senators Lee (R-UT) and Romney (R-UT) for demonstrating proper leadership in this time of health crisis.
This massive lapse of judgment on Senator Rand’s part is the reason I’m calling for his immediate apology and resignation from the Senate. We need competent Americans in our leadership, not someone who doesn’t understand the purpose of quarantining.
1 At one time, I would have used denizen without any further thought: a colorful but merely whimsical noun. However, given Republican hostility to government, it seems hospitable to use such a word for my conservative readers, make them feel at home, as it were, by suggesting a concordance of sentiment. Truth be told, though, I recognize these denizens as actually fellow Americans, dedicated to our betterment through their service via government.
