STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – The United States is facing a coronavirus surge from coast to coast.
We’ve been told by Joe Biden, the presumptive next president of the United States, that we could be in for a “very dark winter” thanks to COVID-19.
New restrictions have been put in place on Staten Island because of higher test positivity rates here. Other places around the country have also implemented new restrictions and travel advisories.
The message is simple: Wear a mask. Keep your social distance. Wash your hands. Don’t travel for the holidays. Don’t attend large gatherings, including for Thanksgiving or Christmas.
But not everybody seems to be getting the message.
In California, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom got rung up for attending a Nov. 6 dinner party for a political advisor. The outdoor event at a tony Napa Valley eatery called French Laundry featured at least a dozen people, media reports said.
Reports of the party came after California issued updated guidelines ahead of the holiday season aimed at limiting gatherings that mix people from different households.
Even though outdoor events are better than indoor, and even though Newsom said party attendees observed all virus safety protocols, the governor had to acknowledge that he should have modeled better behavior and not joined the dinner.
You think?
But Newsom’s not alone.
Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, hanging on to her majority by her fingernails, had to cancel an indoor party for new House members.
Pelosi’s staff at first defended the in-person, indoor event, saying that all safety precautions were being taken. Which was an outrage with Americans being told that they they’d basically be committing a crime if they gathered with family members at Thanksgiving dinner.
It seems Republicans and pro-Trumpers aren’t the only ones who can be accused of flouting lockdown rules. In the face of intense blowback, the House party was canceled.
I guess Pelosi didn’t get the memo about there being a deadly pandemic going on and that all of us need to sacrifice for the greater good. That means no parties, Nancy.
We shouldn’t be surprised by this “laws for thee but not for me” attitude. This is the same Pelosi who was caught indoors without a mask at a beauty salon earlier this year. Pelosi has said that she was “set up” by the salon owner.
Meanwhile, we’ve already heard conflicting information from Biden’s coronavirus advisors about approaches to the pandemic.
Last week, Dr. Michael Osterholm, a member of Biden’s newly minted COVID-19 advisory panel, suggested that America could be placed under a new, four-to-six-week lockdown in order to contain the virus.
It was a plainly ridiculous suggestion given how positivity rates vary from neighborhood to neighborhood even within the same city. Why should every school, house of worship and business suffer if they’re not contributing to the problem?
Osterholm quickly backtracked, saying that he had never made that actual recommendation to the Biden team. And Dr. Vivek Murthy, a top medical advisor to Biden, said that a sweeping lockdown would be a “last resort,” with targeted restrictions much more likely. Another advisor said that a total lockdown is not part of Biden’s thinking.
https://www.silive.com/news/2020/11/hypocrites-newsom-pelosi-party-on-while-we-cower-in-coronavirus-lockdown-opinion.html