This Dr. Fauci quarantine story isn’t good news at all

| 9:30 pm EDT May 9, 2020
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It’s being widely reported this evening that Dr. Anthony Fauci is entering a “modified quarantine” protocol because he came into indirect contact with someone at the White House who has tested positive for coronavirus. Given Fauci’s advanced age, hero status, and importance to the country, this has set off a good amount of alarm.

People are right to be concerned by this story, but perhaps not for the reason they think. Fauci is one of the world’s foremost experts on infectious diseases, so if he seriously thought he’d been exposed, he’d be in full quarantine right now. Instead his “modified quarantine” routine, which means he’ll go into work but only when no one else is there, sounds like he’s merely acting out of a justifiable abundance of caution.

The real problem here is that he’s just about the only one. Dr. Fauci is in modified quarantine, and the CDC Director is in full quarantine, but they appear to be the only senior White House officials taking this seriously. We know that Donald Trump and Mike Pence have both been directly exposed to coronavirus over the past few days, yet neither of them is quarantining.

This means that even if Trump and Pence don’t get sick, there’s a strong chance they’ll end up spreading it around the White House. Whatever happens to Trump and Pence is their problem. But if they end up spreading the coronavirus to nonpolitical White House employees such janitors or secretaries, this could end up getting really ugly.