‘Essential worker’ Pence stays on campaign trail after COVID-19 outbreak on his staff

Vice President Mike Pence has been declared an “essential worker” and will continue on the campaign trail despite a coronavirus outbreak in his office, the White House says.

At least five people in Pence’s office, including chief of staff Marc Short, have tested positive for COVID-19 in recent days, The New York Times reported. Pence and his wife, Karen Pence, tested negative Sunday.

U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines suggest that anyone who has been in close contact with someone who has COVID-19 spend 14 days in quarantine to avoid spreading the virus.

Spokesman Devin O’Malley said Pence has decided to “maintain his schedule in accordance with the CDC guidelines for essential personnel,” NPR reported.

CDC guidelines say “critical infrastructure workers,” such as police officers, can remain on the job after being exposed to the virus as long as they are asymptomatic.

Mark Meadows, White House chief of staff, on Sunday defended the decision to classify Pence as an essential worker, CNN reported.

“I’m not saying he is not campaigning, I’m saying that is only part of what he is doing and as we look at that, ‘essential personnel,’ whether it’s the vice president of the United States or anyone else, has to continue on,” Meadows said, according to the network.

Meadows said Pence would practice social distancing and wear a mask except when giving speeches, although Pence was seen boarding and exiting Air Force Two without a mask Saturday, CNN reported.

Some doctors have criticized the decision to keep Pence on the campaign trail.

Dr. Rob Davidson, an emergency room doctor from Michigan and executive director of the Committee to Protect Medicare, tweeted that the vice president is “endangering Americans by not quarantining.”

“They claim he is an essential worker so he is going to continue his campaigning. Now, essential workers are people at my grocery store. Essential workers are staff at my hospital -- nurses, cleaning crew, myself, other physicians,” he said in a video posted to Twitter.

Davidson said Pence may be an essential worker in his “role as vice president.”

“But he can do that while in quarantine at his residence,” he said. “He does not need to be campaigning, and he is putting people at risk by continuing to campaign.”

Saskia Popescu, an infectious disease expert at George Mason University, told The Associated Press that Pence’s decision to travel is “grossly negligent.”

“It’s just an insult to everybody who has been working in public health and public health response,” she told the AP. “I also find it really harmful and disrespectful to the people going to the rally.”

In the United States, the global coronavirus pandemic has infected 8.5 million people and killed more than 224,000, according to Johns Hopkins University.