DC's Gridiron dinner was COVID super spreader for vaccinated elite

Fauci and CDC Director attend party where vaccine passports failed to stop coronavirus outbreak

The Gridiron is a swanky dinner every year in Washington for the media elite to mingle with elected officials and do costume skits about politics. The dinner was shut down during the pandemic, but it came back on Saturday.

This year’s dinner required the white-tie guests to show proof of COVID vaccination to enter. Dr. Fauci and the CDC Director attended and were surely pleased with this policy.

Dr. Anthony Fauci and CDC Director Rochelle Walensky at the White House in December. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

The event is always off the record. But it’s leaking out now that the dinner was a super spreader for COVID among those in D.C. pushing hardest for the public to get vaxxed and boosted.

By late Wednesday, the Gridiron Club president Thomas DeFrank wrote his members that there are 14 guests with COVID from the dinner.

Gridiron’s photo of Fox and CNN anchors in costume at a past dinner

The Washington Post has the most detail about who has there — Fauci, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky— and who is secretly infected:

about a half-dozen journalists as well as members of the White House and National Security Council staffs who said they tested positive after the event. Their names are being withheld because they have not announced their status publicly.

The public never gets to see inside the Gridiron. This is a photo of Pres. Obama leaving in 2006 (GETTY)

It’s a THING in D.C. for politicians to put out public statements or tweet when they get COVID and tell the public to get vaccinated. (In the Before Times, they only did this when they had cancer.)

So far, we know from their public announcements that Pres. Biden has two cabinet members and one top aide infected.

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland speaks during a press conference at the U.S. Justice Department on April 06, 2022 in Washington, DC..

Attorney General Merrick Garland asked to be tested and is positive and asymptomatic and noted in a press release that he is “fully vaccinated and boosted.”

The Commerce Department put out a statement that said Secretary Gina Raimondo has COVID and “the vaccine has prevented her from experiencing more significant symptoms.” She added more vaccine promotion in a tweet:

Secretary Gina Raimondo @SecRaimondo

Today, I tested positive for COVID. Fortunately, I am fully vaccinated (and boosted!), and I am confident that this vaccine is the reason I don't have more severe symptoms. For the next 5 days, I will be working from home and will return to @CommerceGov once I test negative.

Vice President Kamala Harris released a statement Wednesday about her top aide who was at the Gridiron:

Jamal Simmons, the Vice President’s Communications Director, tested positive for COVID-19 today. Jamal was in close contact to the Vice President as defined by CDC guidance.  Jamal is isolating and working from home.
 
The Vice President will follow CDC guidance for those that have been in close contact with a positive individual and will continue to consult with her physician. The Vice President plans to continue with her public schedule.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, White House Chief Medical Advisor leaves following a Senate hearing on Capitol Hill on January 11, 2022 (Photo by Greg Nash-Pool/Getty Images)

Up on Capitol Hill, the COVID positives that we know so far are Democrats — Reps. Adam Schiff of California, Joaquin Castro of Texas and Katherine Clark of Massachusetts. Here are their declarations:

Joaquin Castro @JoaquinCastrotx

Unfortunately, after avoiding COVID-19 for two years, I’ve come down with it. I tested negative yesterday & last Thursday, but positive today. Thankfully, I’m fully vaccinated & boosted and I'm only experiencing mild symptoms. I will quarantine consistent with CDC guidelines.

Adam Schiff @RepAdamSchiff

This evening, I unfortunately tested positive for COVID-19. I'm feeling fine, and grateful to be vaccinated and boosted. In the coming days, I will quarantine and follow CDC guidelines. And remember, please get vaccinated!

Katherine Clark @RepKClark

Today, I tested positive for COVID-19. I am vaccinated and boosted, experiencing mild symptoms, and will quarantine in line with CDC guidance. I am grateful to our health care professionals and researchers who have given us the tools to manage this deadly virus. Get vaccinated!

The Post says these people also attended:

Other guests included Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Roy Blunt (R-Mo.); Reps. Jamie B. Raskin (D-Md.) and Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.); Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and special presidential envoy John F. Kerry; Federal Reserve Chair Jay Powell; Govs. Larry Hogan (R-Md.) and Chris Sununu (R-N.H.); and New York Mayor Eric Adams (D).

All of these Washington insiders were able to attend the fancy party and hobnob with the powerful because they have gotten at least two vaccine doses. The DC outbreak now just shows that vaccine mandates are a useless way to stop the spread of COVID and just further segregates the elite from the rest of us.

MY SOURCES

Department of Justice press release

Commerce Department press release

Eventbrite for Gridiron event Sunday April 3 to show the skits first given at the exclusive dinner on Saturday

The Washington Post After Gridiron Dinner, a covid outbreak among Washington A-list guests

The FDA’s Credibility Problem