‘The only safe person in Washington.’ Rand Paul defends decision to not wear mask
Sen. Rand Paul defended his decision to not wear a mask to Capitol Hill Tuesday, using Twitter to blame “fake news” and “authoritarianism” for backlash after he said he was immune and could not transmit the disease.
“The fake news can’t stand that some people might not need to submit to the new authoritarianism of the left because they are immune to coronavirus,” the Republican lawmaker said. “Modern science disagrees.”
Paul, who is the only known senator to test positive for COVID-19, told reporters on Tuesday he can’t get the virus again and he can’t give it to anybody.
“Of all the people you’ll meet here, I’m about the only safe person in Washington,” the Kentucky senator said, according to multiple reports.
Paul announced his recovery from COVID-19 on April 7.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that the immune system’s response for COVID-19 isn’t fully understood yet. Other viruses, like MERS-related coronavirus, leave recovered patients with immunity from antibodies. However, it’s not clear whether or not COVID-19 immunity is long-term, the CDC said.
“Patients with MERS-CoV are unlikely to be re-infected shortly after they recover, but it is not yet known whether similar immune protection will be observed for patients with COVID-19,” the CDC said on its website.
Paul, who is an ophthalmologist and has a medical degree, said on Twitter Tuesday that he had been tested for long-term antibodies and he has them.
“Modern medicine shows us that immunity is based on having antibodies,” Paul said. “Why do they think medicine is trying so hard to get a coronavirus vaccine?”
In his tweets, Paul cited Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Fauci has been regularly featured at President Donald Trump’s coronavirus media briefings and in many newscasts
“Generally we know with infections like this, that at least for a reasonable period of time, you’re going to have antibodies that are going to be protective,” Fauci told the Journal of the American Medical Association on April 8.
“If we get infected in February and March and recover, next September, October, that person who’s infected — I believe — is going to be protected,” he said.
Meanwhile, Dr. Vin Gupta, a global health policy expert with NBC, said Paul’s claim “flies in the face of expert guidance from organizations like the WHO and CDC ... who both very clearly said we don’t know.”
Paul also told people who have recovered from COVID-19 not to listen to those trying to tell them what to do.
“To the approximately 2 million New Yorkers and others who got coronavirus and survived, don’t let these busybodies tell you that you don’t have immunity,” Paul said. “They want you to be lemmings and do as THEY see fit. RESIST!”