The vice-chairman of the Massachusetts Republican State Committee is battling COVID-19 after attending a holiday party at the White House earlier this month where he says it was’ almost anyone wearing a mask.
Tom Mountain has been in the hospital twice in the weeks since he went to a Hanukkah party in the East Wing of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue on Dec. 9.
The 60-year-old, who was present against his wife’s advice, believes it was at the annual event that he most likely contracted the virus.
‘I didn’t listen to my own family’s warnings, and now I’m paying the price,’ Mountain told the Boston Globe. ‘No one can say for sure where they got it, but I will say this: Before the party, I was in good health.
‘Three days later, I was in the hospital with COVID, and it was all down there.’
Tom Mountain (pictured with Trump lawyer Sidney Powell) has been in the hospital twice in the weeks since he went to a Hanukkah party on Dec. 9 in the East Wing of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Mountain, who also chairs the Newton Republican City Committee, said he was present at the first of the two Hanukkah parties at the White House on Dec. 9.
The event was discussed split into two halves to reduce the scale of the gathering, but the guest list was still above 100.
Mountain said guests had to wear masks while lining to enter, but said temperature checks or social distance protocols were not in place.
And once inside, he says that ‘almost anyone’ was wearing a mask.
‘I think, like a lot of people, I felt unbelievable and felt that it wouldn’t affect me and that I didn’t have to wear a mask all the time,’ he told WCVB.
Shortly after returning home from DC, the mountain said he began to feel very ill. He underwent a test for COVID on December 11 which he said, ‘not surprisingly’, came back positive.
The next day, feeling that his condition was ‘rapidly declining’, Mountain took himself to the emergency room at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
‘The fact of the matter is, I was basking in the cry of the big White House event, to which I was invited, and three nights later I’m in hospital in the emergency room,’ he told WCVB .
Mountain said all guests had to wear masks while lining to enter, but said temperature checks or social distance protocols were not in place. And once inside, he says that ‘almost anyone’ was wearing a mask
President Donald Trump never appeared at the party that Mountain was attending, but he did appear at the second party held at the White House later in the night (see above)
Mountain spent most of the day at the hospital before being discharged later in the night.
However, with his symptoms getting worse the following week, he returned to the hospital on December 19th.
‘It’s not fun,’ he told the universe. ‘They came very close – not once but twice – to connect me to an air conditioner.’
He spent about eight hours in hospital on his second visit and is now recovering at his home in Newton.
Mountain told the world that he has ‘good days and bad days’ but has recently been suffering from a ‘terrible cough, frequent showers’ as well as not being able to speak physically since time immemorial. Guam.
He says he wished he had heeded his wife’s warnings, strongly advised him not to attend the party, and refused to join him.
But like both the vice-chairman of the Republican party and the vice-chairman of the Massachusetts Jewish Republican Committee, Mountain said he felt obligated to attend.
‘I thought it was the right thing to do,’ he told the Globe, adding that he was the only Massachusetts producer.
An image taken by Tom Mountain at a Dec. 9 event shows one guest lighting a menorah
The event involved a lot of mixing and courting together for photos, before guests sat down for an indoor party, Mountain said.
Mountain put himself up alongside Trump’s lawyer Sidney Powell, who was recently fired during the proceedings. The image shows a mountain decorated in Trump ‘s windshield, with bands tied around his neck. Neither of them faced each other and stood shoulder to shoulder.
He said he would never have been to the party if he had known someone was spreading the virus.
‘I was one of those people who thought I would never be a statistician,’ he told the universe. ‘But for any big gathering like that where you have people from all over the country, you have to have someone.’
Mountain is not the only member of his family paying the price now. In the weeks since, his wife, son, daughter-in-law and mother-in-law have also been positive for the virus.
‘I have to admit I wasn’t the most careful about wearing the face masks,’ Mountain said, ‘but now I’m jealous about it. I have no doubt about their need. ‘
President Donald Trump never appeared at the party that Mountain was attending, but he did appear at the second party held at the White House later in the night.
The event was held among the worst increases in COVID-19 the country has seen since the outbreak of the pandemic.
On December 9, 3,140 people died from the virus – a one-day death toll. Nationwide, 106,000 were also taken to hospital – another record.
While at the second party, Trump did not mention the growing pandemic, but falsely called out to the public ‘We are going to win the election. ‘
The crowd responded by breaking into a canntaireachd of, ‘Four more years! ‘
As of Dec. 28, more than 19.1 million Americans have been positive for COVID-19, and 333,140 have died.