In contrast, Gridiron’s annual dinner in Washington on Saturday appeared to be notable for a possible outbreak of coronavirus among his A-list guests. As of Wednesday morning, Adam Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) And Joaquin Castro (D-Tex.) And Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo had announced that they had tested positive for coronavirus after attending dinner at downtown Renaissance Washington Hotel. On Wednesday afternoon, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced that he was also positive. In addition, about half a dozen journalists as well as members of the White House and National Security Council said they were positive after the incident. Their names are withheld because they have not made their status public. Several White House aides who tested positive did so after traveling to Poland last week with President Biden and before Gridiron dinner. White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki – who attended Gridiron’s dinner – reiterated Wednesday that all White House staffers close to Biden are being monitored regularly. Biden did not attend the dinner, but appeared on video. At the Gridiron dinner, a Republican governor baked Trump Tom DeFrank, editor of the National Journal and president of the Gridiron Club, said in a statement that dinner guests had to show proof of vaccination, but that “a small number of our guests have tested positive since then.” “We wish them a speedy recovery,” he said. The dinner in white ties and dresses attracted about 630 guests, including members of Congress, the Cabinet, the diplomatic corps, the military and business. Among those in attendance were Anthony S. Fauci, the country’s leading infectious disease specialist, and Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Other guests were Senators Susan Collins (R-Maine), Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Kirsten Gillibrand (DN.Y.) and Roy Blunt (R-Missouri). Representatives Jamie B. Raskin (D-Md.) And Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.); Agriculture Minister Tom Vilsack and President John F. Kerry’s special envoy. Federal Reserve Chairman Jay Powell. Governors. Larry Hogan (R) from Maryland and Chris Sununu (R) from New Hampshire. and New York Mayor Eric Adams (D). The possibility that senators at the dinner were contaminated could delay the Senate vote on the ratification of Biden’s Supreme Court nominee, Ketanji Brown Jackson. A vote could take place later this week. no delays have been reported. The dinner guest list also included former NFL great Emmitt Smith. NBA commissioner Adam Silver. CBS presenter Jane Pauley and her husband, “Doonesbury” cartoonist Garry Trudeau. the Ambassador of Ukraine to the United States, Oksana Markarova; Presenter of “Face the Nation”, Margaret Brennan, the presenter of PBS NewsHour, Judy Woodruff. ABC Washington correspondent Jonathan Carl and Washington Post publisher Fred Ryan and editor Sally Buzbee. After a cocktail reception before dinner, guests sat together at long tables for hours, watching satirical sketches and songs performed by members. At the end of the event, the guests shook hands for the traditional song “Auld Lang Syne”. The dinner is supposed to reflect a return to normalcy after being canceled for the past two years due to the pandemic. Few guests wore masks or kept a social distance, according to attendees. Only the staff who served were consistently covered throughout the night. One guest said that while organizers asked attendees to show their vaccination cards at the door, there was no requirement for them to be tested. The sketches of the night, performed by veteran Washington journalists, portrayed figures in both parties, though Republicans – such as former President Donald Trump, Marjorie Taylor Green (LA), Lauren K. (MP). and Paul A. Gosar (Ariz.), former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Senators Ted Cruz (Tex.) and Tom Cotton (Ark.) – came for the sharpest punches. None of these items were present. At one point, a singer dressed as Fauci sang from the stage to the real Fauci in public: “Doctor, Doctor, give me some clues, we have a bad case of covid blues.” Gridiron Dinner is a smaller, more elite forerunner of the White House Correspondents’ Union’s most prominent gathering in late April. The organization’s president, Steven Portnoy, said earlier this week that he would require his 2,600 diners to show a negative coronavirus test the same day, which they can upload to an app. The president usually attends the WHCA dinner, although Trump has never attended the White House during his years. Biden has not yet announced his plans. The Gridiron Club dinner appears to have taken place in compliance with the latest official coronavirus safety guidelines. The CDC updated its guidelines on February 25 to facilitate mask recommendations for the vast majority of the country, and all 50 states have lifted their mask mandates in recent weeks. More than 95 percent of the country, including DC, is classified by the CDC as underweight, which means that the organization does not recommend a mask. However, some experts have warned that the new CDC directives could leave the country unprepared in the event of another wave. The NE. Variant 2 has caused a sharp increase in cases in Europe and has become the dominant strain in the United States, although cases have not yet begun to increase nationally. Some parts of the country, including the northeast, are beginning to show a moderate increase in infections. Outbreaks appear to be exacerbated during the Gridiron dinner, said Abraar Karan, an infectious disease specialist at Stanford University. “You will have these big outbursts that start late and then you will notice more of them. “It’s not strange for me that this big outburst took place at a rally where people were testing afterwards,” Karan said. “We are constantly testing the limits. Everyone tests the limits a bit. “We try to see what the tolerable level of risk is, but when you have a big outbreak, it makes everyone stop,” Karan said. Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease doctor and senior fellow at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, said there is no activity that does not pose a risk of covid-19 – or any other respiratory illness. “Such things will happen, whatever it is, whether it is covid-19, flu, norovirus – a social gathering like this always has this kind of danger and it would be strange not to see this kind of thing happening,” she said. Adalja. “For some people, this is an acceptable risk. for other people, it may not be, and that ‘s where we want to go. “ Fauci, who said he did not test positive, said he complied with CDC instructions when he decided to attend dinner. He said he made a personal decision that the risk of attending was low for three reasons: he was vaccinated and boosted, there was a requirement for proof of vaccination to go to dinner and DC was classified as having low disease weight by the CDC Measurements. This classification also means that individuals can be exposed indoors. Fauci said he wore his mask during the reception, but took it off to eat. “We are in a situation where, as a population, we have to make a decision based on data as well as our individual willingness to take whatever level of risk there may be in which you make the decision.” said Fauci. “I followed the instructions of the CDC, which say that it is okay to be indoors without a mask. But if the cases increase and the CDC says now, wait a minute, you are in a red zone, you can be sure that I will not go to any dinner. “Go as it is.” This is a rare story and will be updated. Staff writer Tyler Pager contributed to this report.
