(Judge Amy Coney Barrett / University of Notre Dame)
The self-professed announcement by the Occupant testing positive for COVID-19 set off a number of reactions. Assuming this announcement to be true, and accepting it without question, it means certain things for everyone potentially exposed. That includes Judge Amy Coney Barrett.
At an announcement at the White House last Saturday, Judge Barrett came within the social distances that will lead to contact tracing, isolation, and quarantine. She herself came very close to the Occupant during the ceremonies and she used some of the same tools including the same, unwiped microphone. She needs to be isolated. Isolation is not just for the exposed person's protection, of course. Isolation of an exposed person is also for the protection of other people, which as we know is a very important value to Judge Barrett.
Her husband and seven children came very close also. They should be quarantined, perhaps isolated depending on their degrees of contact with the Occupant and others who are also now said to test positive for COVID-19. As we all know only too well by now, quarantine is not just for the protection of the person who may or may not be infected themselves; it is for the protection of other people by preventing the virus from spreading.
The Judges of the Seventh Circuit who did not socially distance from Judge Barrett at and after the White House ceremony announcing her selection, must also be isolated or quarantined, as the case may be.
The Republican Senators she visited this week when she made the rounds on Capitol Hill, lining up support that was never in doubt; they too should be isolated or quarantined, whether or not they vote for it.
Notre Dame professors, students, and employees with whom she may have come into contact within the proscribed social distances for everyone exposed to someone in the position of Amy Coney Barrett. She is one of many in the United States who have been exposed in the last seven months to someone else who tested positive for COVID-19. That means, as we all know, that the Domers too must be part of Judge Barrett's contact tracing, and they should be isolated or quarantined if indicated, even if they want to skip the class.
Priests, altar boys, congregation at whatever services she attended following the White House announcement: They too are part of contact tracing for sure. Remember that the announcement was staged on a Saturday. Amy Coney Barrett certainly would have gone to religious services to express her faith, at the very least, the following day, which was a Sunday. If these good people came into range of her exposure, then they also must be isolated or quarantined. "Resist evil and conquer it with love," as Paul wrote in Romans 12.
Whew. There may be more. All that has been said so far focuses on the exposure of one person to the virus: Amy Coney Barrett. We should know more soon. Well, let's put it this way: There are some things, at least, that we will definitely know soon. Other things may take a little longer.
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