Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) tested positive for the COVID-19 China coronavirus Wednesday. In a statement posted online and in an interview w...
Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) tested positive for the COVID-19 China coronavirus Wednesday. In a statement posted online and in an interview with KETK-TV, Gohmert speculated on whether wearing a mask played a role in his being infected with the virus. That prompted mockery by reporters and others who apparently are unaware that both the World Health Organization and the Surgeon General have cautioned that mishandling of coronavirus masks could cause infection.
Gohmert says he feels fine and is asymptomatic. He is driving home to Texas from D.C. to quarantine at home.
Gohmert said to KETK, “It’s really ironic, because, you know, a lot of people have made a big deal out of me not wearing a mask a lot. But in the last week or two, I have worn a mask more than I have in the whole last four months…I can’t help but wonder if by keeping a mask on and keeping it in place, that if I might have uh, put some germs or some vir-, some of the virus onto the mask and breathed it in. I don’t know, but I got it, we’ll see what happens from here, but the reports of my demise are uh, very premature.”
At the end of the interview, Gohmert said people who know they have the virus should wear a mask, but when asked whether healthy people should wear masks, Gohmert said:
“Uh, there are an awful lot of people that think it’s the the great thing to do all the time. But I can’t help but think that if I hadn’t been wearing a mask so much in the last ten days or so, uh, I really wonder if I would have gotten it. But I know, you know moving the mask around, getting it set just right, I’m bound to have put some, some virus on the mask that I sucked in. That’s most likely what happened.”
Gohmert’s statement to constituents with concerns about the mask were similar to the interview with KETK:
Excerpt from interview with KETK of end comment on masks:
Complete KETK interview via Facebook:
The World Health Organization published a poster with strict guidelines on handling masks that mirror Gohmert’s concerns:
Surgeon General Jerome Adams in a March 2 interview with Fox News (via Snopes) warned about wearing masks when not knowing how to handle them safely.
“One of the things [the general public] shouldn’t be doing is going out and buying masks … It has not been proven to be effective in preventing the spread of coronavirus amongst the general public … Folks who don’t know how to wear them properly tend to touch their faces a lot, and actually can increase the spread of coronavirus. You can increase your risk of getting it by wearing a mask if you are not a healthcare provider.”
In a March 31 interview with Fox, Adams again warned on the dangers of wearing masks (via Snopes):
“What the World Health Organization [WHO] and the CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] have reaffirmed in the last few days is that they do not recommend the general public wear masks.”
“… On an individual level, there was a study in 2015 looking at medical students and medical students wearing surgical masks touch their face on average 23 times … We know a major way that you can get respiratory diseases like coronavirus is by touching a surface and then touching your face, so wearing a mask improperly can actually increase your risk of getting disease.”
Liberals and reporters mocked Gohmert’s well-founded (according to the experts) concerns:
House colleague Rep. Rick Larsen (D-WA), “Also, trees cause forest fires ( you don’t seem them burn unless there’s a fire) and flags cause wind (never see one flapping in the wind unless there is wind).”
CNN’s Kevin Liptak, “What?”
CNN’s Manu Raju, “Again completely at odds with what public health experts say. But Gohmert now blaming his rare wearing of a mask on getting covid —>”
NBC’s Charlie Gile, “Rep. Louie Gohmert thinks that it’s possible that wearing a mask gave him COVID…I’m absolutely flummoxed by this…n case it isn’t obvious enough, this claim is complete and utter nonsense.”
Scientist Grady Booch, “Why do we have such foolish, science-denying people as @replouiegohmert in places of power in the government?”
Why do we have such foolish, science-denying people as @replouiegohmert in places of power in the government?— Grady Booch (@Grady_Booch) July 29, 2020
Alexandra Chalupa, “Gohmert as a kid: The dog ate my homework. Gohmert as a Congressman: The mask gave me COVID-19.”
Houston, TX Dr. Protesh Gandhi, former Democrat congressional candidate, “Anti-science “leaders” in TX like @replouiegohmert are why doctors like me are angry. Our patients get sick from #COVID19 because some people believe wearing a mask doesn’t help or actually causes harm. @replouiegohmert’s rhetoric is dangerous to the communities I serve.”
Dr. Eric Feigle-Ding, “WTH—After testing COVID positive, Congressman Gohmert (R-Texas) now thinks wearing a mask gave him the coronavirus!!! Why can’t we have an actual epidemiologist in Congress??? Oh wait, there is one running. Her name is @DrNataliaLinos! #COVID19”
The Daily Beast’s Molly Jong-Fast, “You guys, Louie Gohmert thinks he got coronavirus from the mask?!?!?”
Clara Jeffery, editor-in-chief, Mother Jones, “Gohmert blaming the mask for giving him cornoavirus is like the drunk driver blaming his seatbelt for causing the accident”
Comedy Central’s the Daily Show, “Baby is it possible you were impregnated by the condom itself?”
These people think of themselves as better than conservatives–smarter, believers in science. Yet the science says wearing masks, while having a beneficial purpose, can also serve as transmission points for coronavirus infection and must be handled very carefully as Gohmert said. How can they be trusted when they are so wrong on such a fundamental fact of science? And who among them will apologize to Gohmert?
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