Newest Round Of Hillary Clinton Health Conspiracies: She’s Making Kids Sick

We’ve been hearing about Hillary Clinton’s health for a while now. There have been conspiracy theories about a cough, a startled reaction, and a sip of water gone wrong. Now, though, after she was forced to leave a 9/11 memorial event due to feeling unwell, there has been a confirmation of illness — that is, pneumonia.

With that piece of news released by Clinton’s doctor, and the subsequent deflation of theories about her health — strokes, dementia, seizures, Parkinsons, and more — those who would paint Hillary as unfit for the White House have turned to a new tactic: she’s endangering children.

During the course of the day, Clinton was photographed hugging children, and later, after her collapse, she was taken to daughter Chelsea’s apartment — where her grandchildren reside.

Across social media, heads are shaking and proverbial tongues wagging, passing the news that Hillary Clinton doesn’t mind exposing the public, and innocent babies, to illness.

According to FastMed, pneumonia is not contagious, though some of the viruses and germs that cause it are. However, pneumonia isn’t merely the presence of these infectious materials, but specifically the infection of the lungs.

Particularly at risk are people over 65 — a demographic Clinton has hit in the past few years — as well as those with weakened immune systems, pre-existing conditions, and those under age 2.

Add to that Clinton’s recent very busy schedule with campaigning, and it’s not such a shock that pneumonia would hit her, especially when she was already battling symptoms described as allergies.

So Hillary Clinton had pneumonia when she was shaking these kids' hands? https://t.co/YQ8tvF7ViP

— Peter J. Hasson (@peterjhasson) September 11, 2016

Clinton team frantically googling for strain of pneumonia that's not transmissible to children.

— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) September 12, 2016

Across social media, users bashed the Democratic nominee for hugging children while ill. They asked, How could Hillary Clinton expose constituents and babies to a deadly disease?

However, some supporters noted that Clinton’s doctor said she had begun a course of antibiotics on Friday, making her outside the range for likely transmission of any bacteria or viruses that may have caused pneumonia.

From WebMD. She got antibiotics Friday, thus not infectious Sunday. pic.twitter.com/K7VgBbhcOT

— jere?my (@jere7my) September 12, 2016

Others suggested that Chelsea Clinton should have her kids (a daughter who is two this month and a son who was born in June) checked for pneumonia symptoms, though presumably Chelsea was aware of her mother’s illness when Hillary entered her daughter’s home to rest after the incident and was likely able to make reasoned decisions about the level of exposure between her children and their grandmother.

Meanwhile, novelist Joe Hill spoke up in Hillary’s defense, noting that his own dad, the celebrated author Stephen King, once did an event despite pneumonia. Although Hill calls it “dumb” and “a silly risk,” he makes it clear that even sillier is focusing on such events and pretending they should influence the election.

2. Hillary Clinton's desire to soldier on in the face of illness isn't a scandal. It's called grit.

— Joe Hill (@joe_hill) September 11, 2016

3. My Dad once did an event when he was walking with pneumonia. It was dumb – he took a silly risk with his health & it coulda gone wrong.

— Joe Hill (@joe_hill) September 11, 2016

6 The online uproar about every development makes all issues seem equal when they aren't. A summer cold is not withholding tax returns. Fin.

— Joe Hill (@joe_hill) September 11, 2016

Hillary Clinton and Stephen King aren’t the only ones to decide the show must go on despite illness, either. The Morning News covered the phenomenon in 2013, explaining that when you’re famous, being sick isn’t always a sufficient reason to miss work. The story described incidents ranging from performers vomiting on stage, to passing out in the middle of an event.

It turns out that happens, and Hillary Clinton isn’t the first victim. Unfortunately for her, she happens to be a particular favorite victim in the public eye right now.

Let’s be realistic: Most of us would probably not hug kids when we knew we were walking around with pneumonia, but most of us aren’t public figures. Clinton is in a unique position: she’s recently spoken to Humans of New York for instance, about the difficulty of being approachable and personable, while still expressing her passion about what she’s doing.

“But I’ve learned that I can’t be quite so passionate in my presentation. I love to wave my arms, but apparently that’s a little bit scary to people. And I can’t yell too much. It comes across as ‘too loud’ or ‘too shrill’ or ‘too this’ or ‘too that.'”

If you want to criticize Hillary Clinton for showing up at a memorial service and having to leave due to illness, though, there’s one question you have to answer first, in all fairness: What level of criticism would she receive if she had simply not shown up at all, and declared her illness from a distance without witnesses? Would there have been an assumption that Hillary was lying, theories that she either just didn’t want to be there or that she was more seriously ill than she was admitting? My bet is yes.

[Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images]