Chris Christie’s foxhole conversion

by philg

“Chris Christie says he ‘was wrong’ not to wear face mask at White House” (The Hill):

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) said Thursday that he “was wrong” not to wear a face mask at the White House after testing positive for COVID-19 and spending a week in the hospital.

Christie told The New York Times that he thought he was in a “safe zone” when he attended the Sept. 26 event where President Trump officially nominated Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. Days later on Oct. 1, President Trump announced he and the first lady had tested positive for COVID-19.

The former governor announced his positive test on Oct. 3 and checked into the hospital after his doctor recommended he do so due to his asthma and weight. He spent days in the intensive care unit of Morristown Medical Center in New Jersey.

I wonder if this is a good illustration of the destructive power of faith in masks. A morbidly obese guy such as Chris Christie should be hiding in a bunker, not relying on a 2-cent surgical mask to keep coronavirus from finding its perfect host (his corpulence). Other than having gotten sick after not wearing a mask, what has Christie learned that would contradict this chart example:

Do we really want other morbidly obese guys pushing 60 to put their faith in masks because Christie thinks he would have had a different outcome if he’d used a bandana or similar for PPE?

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7 thoughts on “Chris Christie’s foxhole conversion”

  1. Well, ain’t this the Gotcha question of this entire outdoor plumbing adventure year! As it so happens, I know a physician affiliated with Morristown Medical Center, and Christie was in pretty bad shape there for a few days, which at a relatively young 60 aside from his weight, must have scared him quite righteously. My friend is a very good physician, and he strenuously recommends that Christie and everyone else – at risk from comorbidities or not – wear their masks from now on. I think he also recommends that Christie try to shed some weight, and maybe invest in a home gym if he hasn’t already.

    Of course, for my physician friend that’s a matter of not just official policy but statewide mandate and he would never publicly contradict it.

    I don’t see what options Christie had but to come out and say what he did. He intends to remain a larger-than-life personality in politics and the media in New Jersey for at least another decade (with any luck) and I get the sense that he basically felt he had no option but to issue the mea culpa and publicly express his support for masks, foxhole conversion or not.

    Since he doesn’t intend to stay in a bunker, he’s going to follow the policy from now on, until the official All Clear is sounded, whenever that may be. Given all the hugging and handshaking that was going on at the Barrett announcement, I don’t know whether a mask would have prevented Christie’s infection, but he’s going to err on the side of political reality and sega: “Wear a mask!”

    • @Alex, good info and good analysis of the situation. Of course he could have done what Donald J. Trump did, but maybe his experience was harder and he was in a much worse situation (i.e. it scared the crap outta him).

  2. > 2-cent surgical mask
    Where do you get such masks? Last time I checked 50-mask box was $16 at Costco, making them 32-cent masks.

  3. Well if they really did all hunker down in a bunker, the next step would be for people to say “do we really need to invest so much money investing in 10 vaccines simultaneously, and producing them before we know which ones work? Let’s do one at a time!”

    They might be in there for ten years. And that’s assuming they all live alone, or their kids are willing to bunker with them indefinitely.

  4. Like Paul on the road to Damascus. If in the 11th hour he plays proper homage to the God of Corona he can be saved because the God of Corona saves all so long as you repent by masking and social distancing.

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