Coronavirus tsar Mike Pence jets off to Florida for Republican fundraiser amid health crisis

Coronavirus tsar Mike Pence is jetting off to Florida for a Republican fundraiser on Friday amid the health crisis that's causing fear among the country.

The vice president was announced this week as being the lead person appointed by President Donald Trump to handle the containment of the high-spreading coronavirus in the US, shocking health officials including, reportedly, Trump's own health secretary.

Trump's decision comes as the stock market is having its worst week since 2008 and the first known case of the coronavirus in America not linked to travel in China has surfaced.

On Thursday, Pence organised a coronavirus task force meeting to discuss the impending pandemic, which the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said is not a matter of if but when.

He also visited the Secretary's Operation Centre at Health and Human Services.

Amid the health crisis, Pence is choosing to still travel to Florida as a "special guest" for the Republican Party fundraiser, which is set to take place Friday evening.

People attending the fundraiser in Longboat Key, Florida, can pay $2,500 to attend, $5,000 to also receive a selfie with the vice president, and $25,000 to dine with the man, according to an invitation obtained by the Tampa Bay Times.

The Florida trip was scheduled before Trump announced on Wednesday he would be putting the coronavirus on Pence's plate.

Pence's team potentially anticipated the backlash the vice president would receive for attending the fundraiser amid the health crisis. An item on his agenda titled "Florida coronavirus response meeting" was added before he left Washington DC.

Katie Miller, the vice president's press secretary, also said Pence would be hosting coronavirus task force meetings on Friday and Saturday in Washington, according to CNN.

The decision to nominate Pence to lead the coronavirus response in the US faced backlash, with people bringing up the vice president's previous history when dealing with health crises.

When he was governor of Indiana, the state faced an HIV epidemic in 2014. One study in 2018 from the Lancet Medical Journal said the number of those infected by HIV would've been lower had the vice president acted sooner to the public health crisis.

There are 60 known cases of the coronavirus currently in the US. None of the cases are based in Florida.

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