Earlier today, Mike Pence visited the famed Mayo Clinic medical center and he stood out, probably more than he meant to.
Pence has been declining to wear a face covering in recent photo ops and this was no exception, despite the fact that everyone around him was wearing masks because it’s literally the Mayo Clinic’s policy. Their website reads, “Part of our protocol for ensuring your safety is to require all patients, visitors and staff to wear a face covering or mask while at Mayo Clinic to guard against transmission of COVID-19.”
And yet here was Pence today:
PENCE flouts Mayo Clinic policy that everyone on campus wear a mask, even as he meets with staff and a patient. pic.twitter.com/kfo64KQDhU
— Dan Diamond (@ddiamond) April 28, 2020
So it seems he didn’t get the memo about face masks. Except oh wait, he did! The Mayo Clinic tweeted and then VERY QUICKLY DELETED a message saying he knew exactly what he was doing.
the @MayoClinic has deleted this tweet about face masks and the @VP‘s visit. pic.twitter.com/0OJTwdy6x0
— Eli Yokley (@eyokley) April 28, 2020
If they were hoping no one would notice … sorry, no.
Nice try bitch @VP pic.twitter.com/9fKlUoZLTD
— Ira Madison III (@ira) April 28, 2020
Just a small piece of advice to the social media director at the Mayo. Clinic: People can see when you delete your tweets.
— Sam Stein (@samstein) April 28, 2020
People are understandably angry about Pence’s disregard for medical protocol and human safety.
This is so shameful; shows such a callous disregard for the health of the fellow citizens he purports to lead, and so clearly an example of his utter cowardice and fear of Donald Trump, it’s hard to believe this man was ever elected to any office at all. https://t.co/1XoVBDlMfh
— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) April 28, 2020
Mike Pence said smoking doesn’t kill. He was single-handedly responsible for a statewide AIDS outbreak in Indiana. And the lax gun laws he signed increased deaths across the Midwest.
I guess if you don’t believe in science, you don’t think you need to wear a mask. https://t.co/IwY7Th7aMy
— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) April 28, 2020
Dear @VP Mike Pence: The mask is not to protect you, it’s to protect the patients at the Mayo Clinic. You had no right to violate hospital policy and put others at risk. https://t.co/HFyml3V66A
— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) April 28, 2020
When you don’t wear a mask, especially inside the Mayo Clinic, you are not being brave. You are showing that you think the rules don’t apply to you. And you are setting a dangerous example by ignoring experts.
— Brian Schatz (@brianschatz) April 28, 2020
Mike Pence wont go in a room with a woman, but he will walk around the Mayo Clinic without a mask? Get the F out of here.
— JeremyNewberger (@jeremynewberger) April 28, 2020
It’s not clear why Pence refuses to wear a mask. When Donald Trump announced the administration’s official face mask recommendation, Trump still said he probably wouldn’t wear one, citing some nonsense about how it would look strange to wear a face covering in the Oval Office. So it could be that he pressured Pence to follow his lead.
Although if Trump and Pence think that a face covering isn’t a look worthy of leadership, they are extremely mistaken. They just haven’t been doing it right.
president of Slovakia showing up in her corona drip, hand-tailored matching fabric surgical masks….. impeccable pic.twitter.com/PgZB1YvuDs
— ⌁☍ (@iatemuggles) March 21, 2020
Safety and leadership and fashion, it’s possible.
(image: Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)
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