Keeping Congress Safe From Coronavirus More Important Than Keeping American Citizens Safe?

Don't ever risk shaking hands with Congressional leaders should you run into them along the hallways at Capitol Hill.  They're likely the most unhygienic people you'll ever encounter. Mentioned only in passing yesterday in a Fox  News story about House Speaker Nancy Pelosi inviting her fellow congressional leaders to participate in a briefing  to discuss a plan for congressional operations should the coronavirus threaten Washington, D.C.:"Officials also want to double the number of hand sanitizers located in congressional hallways as the House supply store was already out of big bottles of hand sanitizer." (Emphasis CFP's)

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Hello?! The House supply store ran out of "big bottles of hand sanitizer" before the spread of the Coronavirus outbreak? That makes the do-nothing Democrats also the know-nothing Democrats! Among the many things Congressional members don't seem to know is that during regular influenza seasons, at least 32 million Americans can be infected. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's weekly Influenza Surveillance Report as of February 22, 2020, among those 32 million affected, there were 310,000 hospitalizations and 18,000 deaths from non-coronavirus flu. "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., invited her fellow congressional leaders to participate in a briefing  with Capitol Hill officer to discuss a plan for congressional operations should the coronavirus threaten Washington, D.C., Fox News has learned."(Fox News, March 2, 2020)

"Pelosi wants Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., to meet on Capitol Hill to figure out "preparedness and keeping the Congress open for the People's business," a Democratic aide told Fox News."

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How typical for Pelosi and Democrats to put their own safety ahead of the people they were elected to represent:

"There have previously been conversations among congressional staff about potentially mandating that only "essential staff" have to work and what that would mean in a move similar to what occurs during a government shutdown or major meteorological event. (Fox News) "Their offices will want to try to figure out if there is consensus among the leaders and what their positions are if things go south," a person close to the matter who asked that they not be identified told Fox News. "Everyone will need to operate under the same construct."

This from the same politicians who have their own gold-plated health care plan.

"The source added that health officials have warned key congressional figures that "this thing is going to spread" and that "there are going to be some casualties." (Fox News)

"Although the media are focused on the coronavirus and the six fatalities that have taken place in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), influenza and related pneumonia are widespread across the country. (Breitbart, March, 2, 2020)

"The percentage of death attributed to pneumonia and influenza is 6.9 percent, below the epidemic threshold of 7.3 percent," the CDC reported. "Among the deaths are more than 100 children.

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"Twenty influenza-associated pediatric deaths occurring during the 2019-2020 season were reported this week," the CDC reported. "The total for the season is 125." "This number [of pediatric deaths] is higher for the same time period than in every season since reporting began in 2004-05, except for the 2009 pandemic," the CDC reported. "But overall, flu activity was down, according to the CDC. "Key indicators that track flu activity remain high but decreased for the second week in a row," the CDC reported. "Severity indicators (hospitalizations and deaths) remain moderate to low overall, but hospitalization rates differ by age group, with high rates among children and young adults." "The CDC also released information on the effectiveness of this year's vaccines. "Interim estimates of 2019-2020 flu vaccine effectiveness were released last week," the CDC reported. "So far this season, flu vaccines are reducing doctor's visits for flu illness by 45 percent overall and 55 percent in children." "A CDC map shows that every state and U.S. territories have reported cases of the flu, with the District of Columbia and Idaho with low levels and Florida and the U.S. Virgin Islands with minimal levels.

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"The Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918 prompted the House and Senate to close its public galleries for nearly a month. The House actually did little work during that period as so many members were absent and the body lacked quorums to conduct day-to-day legislative business." (Fox News)

Day-to-day legislative business by the current Congress came to a halt following Election 2016 when legislative work became all but wholly dominated by President Trump Russian collusion investigations and impeachment initiatives. The most work Pelosi and Congress have conducted since the arrival of the coronavirus outbreak is trying, along with their complicit media hacks, to prove that the outbreak is President Donald Trump's fault. Many oddities have come along with the outbreak and spread of coronavirus, including the one in China where Chinese people have ditched handshakes and greet each other by tapping their feet together to avoid contracting the coronavirus. (Daily Mail, March 2, 2020:

• Trending videos show residents of China adopting the 'foot-touching curtsy'
• People were seen using their own shoes to touch others' shoes as they meet
• The hashtag StopShakingHands has emerged on Twitter due to the disease
• In Iran, which is being ravaged by the virus, people are also greeting with feet
• While France is urging people to cut back on the customary double-cheek kiss.

Add to the oddities list that with Influenza raging in the USA every Flu Season, Congress ran out of "big bottles of hand sanitizer" but are still shaking peoples' hands.

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