Pence tours Mayo Clinic, flouts rule on wearing mask – Update

I read that the Mayo Clinic has said it told Pence that masks were required for all visitors, staff and patients at its Rochester, Minnesota, facility, because of the coronavirus outbreak. Pence's wife, Karen, on Thursday said he only learned of that policy after he left the clinic Tuesday. She didn't explain why her husband didn't become suspicious that something was amiss when he was in a group of people all wearing face mask and he was not!

My mind conjured up the following situation: A person (man or woman) just stepped out of the shower when the phone rings and a friend invites that person to come join an “as you are” party going on next door. Said person is the only naked person there, but doesn't learn this fact until after the party.

Surely, the Mayo Clinic had a spare mask to give to Pence and probably offered it, but he refused. At the next visit, to a GM plant, Pence got the idea.

Pence tours Mayo Clinic, flouts rule on wearing mask

I just received an e-mail from an agency of the US Defense Department which is addressed to all military retirees, annuitants and former spouses. It reads in part: “Commissaries are requiring customers to wear some form of face coverings to enter the building. This policy falls in-line with the 5 April 2020 DoD guidance mandating all individuals on DoD property, installations, and facilities to wear face coverings when they cannot maintain 6 feet of social distance in public areas or work centers.” While visiting the US Army's Landstuhl Regional Medical Center last week, Ingrid and I were required to wear face masks (we came prepared) while in the Hospital. Everybody else did too.

Right after reading the above mentioned e-mail I read a news briefing that contained information from the New York Times. The article said in part: “The Mayo Clinic, the renowned medical center in Minnesota, has a clear policy in place during the coronavirus outbreak that any visitor should wear a protective face mask. But when a delegation of Trump administration officials arrived at the clinic on Tuesday to thank the doctors there for their work on the virus, one person decided to flout the rule: Vice President Mike Pence, the chairman of the White House coronavirus task force” (emphasis added by me). Even if he, as Vice President, and all who come in contact with him get tested regularly as he claimed, this sends a clear signal: “Do as I say, not as I do or, I'm above the law, and common decency standards do not apply, the same as with my big idol, Donald Trump.”