We previously reported that last month’s Gridiron Dinner was a great success for COVID.
So when they had the White House Correspondents’ Dinner this past weekend, Trevor Noah the featured speaker joked that this would be the next super spreader.
’The second someone offers you a free dinner, you all turn into Joe Rogan’ — Trevor Noah began his speech at the #WHCD by roasting members of the press for gathering at ‘the nation’s most distinguished super spreader event’ pic.twitter.com/8BUwsRH4de
— NowThis (@nowthisnews) May 1, 2022
He also joked that Dr. Anthony Fauci was unable to attend because of concerns about the virus. But, Fauci did attend the packed pre-dinner and did not wear a mask to the party with a lot of people.
One Washington Post reporter commented how awful it was to see people packed together at dinner. It seemed like nearly all the guests used masks at the poor filtered WHCD. Joe Biden included.
It comes as no surprise that word is starting to come in of attendees at the dinner coming down with the virus, including Jada Yuan, the White House reporter who complained about people being all packed in together.
Welp. So I, too, got covid — and it sucks. It could have been the WHCD dinner I was covering or the surrounding events (also covering). Dinner had testing requirement, events did not. And now I’ll be missing a major international work trip I really wanted to do. https://t.co/5l7JxVweXC
— Jada Yuan (@jadabird) May 4, 2022
ABC’s Jonathan Karl also tested positively. He was honored for his Jan. 6 coverage.
6) To be clear & fair, @jonkarl is a great ABC News reporter— honored at #WCHD for his Jan. 6 reporting that “this was not just a riot, it wasn’t just an attack on the capital, it was an assault on American democracy.”
But he did hug a lot of people.pic.twitter.com/aJY4g5rHuh
— Eric Feigl-Ding (@DrEricDing) May 3, 2022
Jonathan Karl, ABC News, in 15 seconds gives a perfect example of why “journalism” isn’t journalism anymore, but activism. This was his speech for accepting an award for Jan 6 reporting 🤣 🤡 pic.twitter.com/i6oPhTjDkP
— Joe Has Dementia (@RokerGlasses) May 1, 2022
Karl falsely claimed that President Donald Trump encouraged an “angry mob” of people to confront Congress members. Trump wasn’t the one to do this. However, he encouraged people to be peaceful and patriotic. Karl got an award for that? Really.
Karl embraced many guests at the dinner and also shook hands with Joe Biden.
Several reporters from other outlets tested positive after the dinner.
In the days since WHCD weekend, reporters and staffers from CNN, ABC News, NBC News, CBS News, Politico, and other participating news orgs have tested positive for Covid. More in the @ReliableSources newsletter. https://t.co/Fg9FPbasc0
— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) May 4, 2022
Antony Blinken, Secretary of State, was also present at dinner and tested positive.
Just announced by @StateDept that @SecBlinken has tested positive for #COVID19. pic.twitter.com/6VVvO4r2Vi
— Steve Herman (@W7VOA) May 4, 2022
A scientist offered assistance to stop the virus from spreading at the dinner.
Don Milton was an environmental scientist from the University of Maryland. He advised the White House about airborne transmission and stated that he offered to have a company install them free of charge. Milton said that he had asked scientists and germicidal UV lighting companies to help him install temporary installations as a demonstration project to safeguard White House correspondents.
Milton, an expert from the University of Maryland, stated that ventilation alone is not sufficient. Milton said that lighting systems that actively clean the air are essential.
Milton said that many coronavirus-related infections had been discovered at the Gridiron Club dinner. After speaking to the correspondents, he set up a conversation with Far UV to talk them about temporary installations of more than 100 devices at the Washington Hilton. They range from small lamps that look like smoke detectors to large portable lamps that can be placed in a room.
Officials from WHCA stated that the conversations were not planned in time and that they were concerned about the lighting. They feared the lights would irritate the eyes of attendees, distract servers trying to navigate the ballroom, and make Biden appear pale as he addresses the crowd.
Milton said that the technology is effective. He pointed out that the White House had last week praised UV disinfection light as a method to fight coronavirus, and that federal regulators encourage its use.
They declined the devices partly because it would have made Joe Biden pale.
The story is interesting because it says that the White House promotes UV disinfectant light’s potential benefits. The media misrepresented his words, suggesting that he had instructed people to inject bleach. Jon Karl.
