CNN’s “State of the Union” was heavily mocked on social media after airing an interview with Kamala Harris in which show host Dana Bash and the vice president sat some 12-15 feet apart — even though both have received the COVID-19 vaccine.
In the Sunday interview, Harris discussed a slew of topics, but few could get past the absurdly large distance between Bash and the vice president.
Vice President Kamala Harris on addressing the root causes of migration: "We have to give people some sense of hope that if they stay that help is on the way." #CNNSOTU https://t.co/dcOKYcUCX0 pic.twitter.com/pb2PPMxQLt
— State of the Union (@CNNSotu) April 25, 2021
“Can you scooch back just a little?” Caleb Howe wrote. “Thanks! Little more though? Now just scooch a bit more. Juuust a bit more. Scooch a touch more? Thanks, a little more. CAN YOU HEAR ME? I SAID A BIT MORE! Can she [see] me waving my hand? Call her cell. Kamala? It’s Dana, can you scooch a bit more?”
“They’re freaking vaccinated,” wrote Ellen Carmichael.
Can you scooch back just a little? Thanks! Little more though? Now just scooch a bit more. Juuust a bit more. Scooch a touch more? Thanks, a little more. CAN YOU HEAR ME? I SAID A BIT MORE! Can she me waving my hand? Call her cell. Kamala? It's Dana, can you scooch a bit more? https://t.co/mhnXTQNwDz
— Caleb Howe (@CalebHowe) April 25, 2021
One Twitterer postulated a theory. “Given how unnecessary this is, we can only assume that the Democrats have something to gain by keeping people unreasonably anxious and afraid of Covid. Why else would they insist on adopting this kind of theater and making it part of the Democratic brand?”
Given how unnecessary this is, we can only assume that the Democrats have something to gain by keeping people unreasonably anxious and afraid of Covid. Why else would they insist on adopting this kind of theater and making it part of the Democratic brand?
— K.C. Holliday (@KC__Holliday) April 25, 2021
“They’re further apart than two kids dancing at a church social,” another user wrote.
The interview came the same day that Dr. Anthony Fauci — an immunologist and director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases who served on former President Trump’s White House Coronavirus Task Force and is now President Biden’s chief medical adviser on COVID-19 — said he thinks the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will soon update its COVID-19 guidance on wearing face masks outdoors.
“I mean, if you are a vaccinated person, wearing a mask outdoors, I mean, obviously, the risk is minuscule,” Fauci said on Sunday.
“What I believe you’re going to be hearing, what the country is going to be hearing soon, is updated guidelines from the CDC,” Fauci said ABC News’ “This Week.” “The CDC is a science-based organization. They don’t want to make any guidelines unless they look at the data and the data backs it up.”
“But when you look around at the common sense situation, the risk is really low, especially if you’re vaccinated,” he said.
Although we’re more than a year into the pandemic, scientists are still learning about COVID-19. Just last week, the CDC put out new guidance. “It is possible for people to be infected through contact with contaminated surfaces or objects (fomites), but the risk is generally considered to be low,” the guidance says. The CDC added that the chance of contracting the coronavirus through surface transmission is lower than 1 in 10,000.
Then there’s former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, who said last month that the six-foot social distancing mandate put in place across much of the U.S. “wasn’t based on clear science.”
“This six-foot distancing requirement has probably been the single costliest mitigation tactic that we’ve employed in response to COVID … and it really wasn’t based on clear science … We should have re-adjudicated this much earlier,” he said in an interview with CNBC.