Why Are So Many Politicians Testing Positive with COVID-19?

Among the 121,061 to have been infected by the COVID-19 virus so far, one class of notable people appear to have been affected more than others — politicians. “There are far more politicians who have been infected than you would have by statistical chance,” Francois Balloux, a professor of computational systems biology at University College London tells TIME. “Politicians are over-represented in the number of people who have been diagnosed.” In Iran and across Europe, several high profile politicians have revealed they are battling the novel coronavirus. Iraj Harirchi, the head of the Iranian counter-coronavirus task force, was diagnosed on Feb. 25 after downplaying the severity of the outbreak. A further 20 Iranian lawmakers have since been infected and isolated, and at least two have died. The head of Iran’s crisis management organization Esmail Najjar has also been placed in isolation after contracting COVID-19. In Europe, senior politicians in France, the U.K., Spain and Italy are among those infected. The French Culture Minister Franck Riester tested positive on March 9, the ministry said, noting that Riester had been at the National Assembly where 5 people were found to have the virus. Nadine Dorries, a United Kingdom Health Minister also tested positive with the virus this week. Before falling ill, she interacted with Prime Minister Boris Johnson as well as other prominent politicians. In neighboring Spain, Javier Ortega Smith, a s...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 Londontime Source Type: news