The unmasked menace

Republican members of the House, refusing to accept reality, endangered the lives of their fellow representatives. We’re not just talking about the 140-plus politicians who invited the siege on the Capitol by opposing state electoral vote counts and echoing Donald Trump’s incendiary rhetoric. In this adjunct case, those waging war on facts, never mind the real human casualties, had been ushered with their colleagues into a secure room in the Capitol complex to protect themselves from the self-styled revolutionaries who flooded into the building. Indoors. Close together. Remember warning after warning after warning about how COVID spreads? While sheltering, Democrat Lisa Blunt Rochester kindly offered masks to Republicans in the room, including Marjorie Taylor Greene, Markwayne Mullin and Andy Biggs (yes, those three also objected to the election results). They refused. That’s the same Marjorie Taylor Green, a QAnon supporter, who pitched a fit about wearing a mask at her swearing-in. The same Markwayne Mullin who last July wrote, “Wearing a face mask should be a personal choice, not a government mandate,” because “we can’t let fear sacrifice freedom.” The same Andy Biggs who in October egregiously distorted the findings of a CDC study to claim that masks don’t frustrate COVID spread. Sow the wind, reap the whirlwind. Soon, the Capitol physician warned members and staff that they may have been exposed to an infected person when sheltering in place. Then New Jersey Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, a 75-year-old cancer survivor who was in that room with her mask on, tested positive for COVID. Then came Pramila Jayapal. Then came Brad Schneider. Pray no one else gets sick. Hope to hell no one dies because a handful of arrogant fools, like too many of the people they represent, put pride and politics before public health.