To no one’s surprise, especially given the reckless behaviour exhibited by President Donald Trump and those in his orbit, Rudy Giuliani, the president’s infamous personal and campaign lawyer most recently known for farting in the courtroom, has covid-19.
Giuliani’s diagnosis was announced by Trump himself on Twitter on Sunday. In the tweet, the president showered Giuliani with praise and highlighted his largely failed efforts to overturn the election. According anonymous sources who spoke to the New York Times, Giuliani was at Georgetown University Medical Centre on Sunday. The president’s lawyer is 76 years old, which means he is at higher risk of developing severe illness from covid-19, per Centres for Disease Control and Prevention guidance.
Severe illness means that a person may require hospitalisation, intensive care, or ventilator support to help them breathe. It could also mean death, the agency states.
“Get better soon Rudy, we will carry on!!!” Trump wrote.
Besides Trump’s tweet, as of Sunday evening there was not been any additional information about when Giuliani tested positive or whether he has symptoms. Giuliani’s son, Andrew, who works as a White House advisor, thanked people for checking in on his father on Twitter. Andrew Giuliani had also tested positive for covid-19 in late November.
“My Dad Rudy Giuliani is resting, getting great care and feeling well,” Andrew Giuliani tweeted. “Thank you to all the friends who have reached out concerned about his well being.”
Giuliani can add his name to the list of people around the president who have gotten covid-19, including Trump himself, first lady Melania Trump, the president’s son Donald Trump Jr., and press secretary Kayleigh McEnany among many, many others. A tally kept by the Times had found that at least 40 members of Trump’s administration, campaign, and inner circle have become infected since September.
Much like the president, Giuliani has repeated flouted public health guidelines with his behaviour, eschewing masks, shaking hands, hugging, and taking pictures with people maskless, CNN reported. He has also been travelling across the country to battleground states to argue for Trump’s claims of imaginary voter fraud.
In one of those legal battles that took place this past week, Giuliani burned up the internet when he let out various clear and audible farts at a Michigan House Oversight Committee hearing. You could even say that Giuliani’s farts symbolise Trump’s prospects of overturning the election: they’re just smelly explosions that fade away in the end.
The takeaway: Don’t be like Giuliani and act like everything is normal. It’s not. It won’t be normal, or even close to normal, until we get and distribute a vaccine.