White House reporters livid with 'reckless' officials for risking their lives: 'Not a safe place to work'
Reporters covering the White House are said to be furious with top administration officials who they believe have grossly mishandled the West Wing coronavirus outbreak.
The reporters believe that negligence and recklessness have endangered their lives, as per interviews conducted on October 5 with nine journalists who cover the White House, CNN reported. Many of these journalists say that they do not feel safe at the White House and are avoiding being there unless it's absolutely necessary.
One journalist who chose to remain anonymous told CNN Business, "People are angry. It's recklessness out here." For a long time now, reporters have been voicing their concerns regarding the lackadaisical attitude that the White House has taken throughout the pandemic including flouting basic health guidelines.
The coronavirus has claimed up to 200,000 lives across the United States. However, POTUS Donald Trump has continued to hold rallies indoors during the pandemic, and top officials have refused to wear masks. It was just last week that Trump and his wife Melania tested positive for coronavirus but even after that, the White House has still declined to adopt and implement many of the health guidelines that it has recommended to the public with regards to the coronavirus.
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany had announced on Monday, October 5, that she had tested positive for the coronavirus and had spoken to reporters without a mask just the day before. White House communications director Alyssa Farah had also spoken to reporters on Sunday, October 4, without sporting a face mask.
One White House reporter said, "It's not just frustrating, it's infuriating. As White House reporters we put our health at risk every day. We have families of our own. We expect people working at the same facility as us to take the same measures. But they don't and because of this recklessness we are more worried than ever about our health."
Another reporter chimed in and said, "It's a scary situation." A third reporter added, "It's not a safe place to work and hasn't been in a long time. They don't wear masks. They clearly haven't cared as much as they should have for seven months — large meetings, large rallies, large everything. No masks on planes. Inconsistent testing. Every life reliant on a rapid testing system that doesn't really work. And they have mocked and attacked us for pointing that out repeatedly."
Many reporters were particularly outraged with McEnany who maintained that she did not know about top communications aide, Hope Hicks, testing positive. Even after knowing she had been exposed to Hicks and Trump, McEnany continued to show up to work and speak to reporters without a mask.
One White House reporter shared, "Kayleigh has so many people f***ing furious. It's hard to overstate it. She recklessly endangered the lives of the people she is tasked to work with. I really think she owes an apology to the people who were in the briefing room on Thursday."
A reporter for The New York Times, Michael Shear, is sure that he contracted the virus when Trump announced his pick for Supreme Court. Nine days later, Shear has not heard anything from the White House about any tracing or follow up on contracting Covid-19. While speaking on CNN's 'New Day', he said, "I have not been contacted by the White House. Nobody from the White House has said 'boo' and asked anything about where I was or who I talked to or who else I might have infected." He added that the lack of follow up "just shows you that they're not, you know, they're not taking it seriously, at least as it pertains to themselves".
Shear is among the three White House journalists who tested positive after the event.
We had earlier reported that Trump was hospitalized after being diagnosed with Covid-19 with the election campaign entering its final months. Trump's staff have now tried a new approach as a means to revive his flagging poll numbers and have indicated that catching the coronavirus is a sign of Trump's strength, while his rival and Democratic candidate Joe Biden is hiding from it, Fox News reported.