Republican Congressman Who Doesn't Wear Mask on House Floor Announces on Facebook That He and His Family Are Infected With COVID-19
June 16th 2020
Official portrait of US Congressman Tom Rice (US Government)
By Walter Einenkel
Republican Rep. Tom Rice of South Carolina took to his Facebook page on Monday to announce that he, his wife, and his son had all tested positive for COVID-19. Calling it the “Wuhan Flu,” Rice said that his son got it the worst, with a high fever and coughing, but seemed “on the mend.” Rice said his and his wife’s cases were less severe, with his wife having it worse. According to him, his son first came down with symptoms last Sunday, which would be June 7. Rice himself says he came down with it on Monday, June 8, and his wife Wrenzie “got it on Thursday.” An important thing to distinguish here is that these dates aren’t necessarily when this family “got” or contracted the virus; they just represent the days that each of them started displaying symptoms.
CNN’s Manu Raju reported that Rep. Rice was in the House chambers and on the floor the week before his son showed symptoms. At that time, Rep. Rice did not wear a mask when he was on the floor. Raju asked him about this lack of precaution at the time and Rice explained that “I'm socially distancing. I'm staying six feet away from folks.” Rep. Rice did say he would wear the mask if he was in a space like an airplane where he couldn’t keep the distance between him and others.
Calling COVID-19 the “Wuhan flu” is not simply an attempt at pushing a racist and xenophobic conspiracy theory, it’s also just not correct. The 2019 novel coronavirus isn’t the “flu.” And people like Rep. Tom Rice have been spending their time telling news outlets and their constituents that the coronavirus pandemic was nothing to panic about, and that very few people were going to die from it. As of this diary, about 118,000 Americans have lost their lives to the pandemic.
Rice has toed the exact line that the Trump administration has drawn for him. He has said there was nothing to worry about, and followed that up by promoting the idea that anyone pushing for big closures and serious social distancing measures was panicking. He then subsequently promoted the idea that Trump is doing everything he can, and that the Republican Party has always promoted the public health measures needed to prevent the spread of COVID-19 that we … somehow see in front of us today.
Here’s Tom Rice explaining how only 50 people had “passed away” from COVID-19, and why there was no reason to close things down.