Election Partying Likely Superspreader Events, Experts And Critics Say
“When people’s guards get down, when people are celebrating, yelling, singing, these contribute to superspreading events,” says Robert Siegel, an infectious-disease specialist at Stanford University.
HuffPost:
Biden Campaign Urges Supporters To Follow COVID-19 Guidelines While Celebrating
President-elect Joe Biden’s campaign is urging its supporters to practice social distancing and wear masks while celebrating his election victory after crowds flooded the streets of some cities a day earlier to revel in the historic moment. “I know folks are excited,” Symone Sanders, a senior adviser to the Biden campaign, told CNN’s “State of the Union.” “But we’re imploring folks across the country to be safe, wear your mask, social distance. This virus is very real and it’s deadly.” (Miller, 11/8)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Celebrations For Biden, Harris Probably Spread Coronavirus, Bay Area Health Experts Warn
The impromptu celebrations for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris after the marathon presidential election could very well have harmed the new president’s goal of taming the coronavirus pandemic, Bay Area epidemiologists said. Corks popped in the Bay Area and across the nation after the two ended President Trump’s four-year reign, but it was pretty clear from television crowd shots that social distancing was not foremost on the minds of the shouting, chanting, singing revelers, some of whom even snuck in hugs and kisses. (Fimrite, 11/8)
The Washington Post:
Crowds Celebrating Biden Win Prompt Warnings And Accusations Of Hypocrisy
The gleeful celebrations of victory that spontaneously erupted in cities from Portland to Philadelphia this weekend over media announcements of Joe Biden’s win prompted warnings from wary health officials — and raised eyebrows among conservatives. “As a reminder, public celebrations where people are close to each other, unable to stand 6ft apart, cheering & shouting, especially without face coverings is high risk for transmission of COVID-19,” the Los Angeles County Public Health Department warned residents on Saturday afternoon, as U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams issued a reminder that “the virus doesn’t care about why you are gathering.” (Farzan, 11/9)
Also —
AP:
Trump's Election Night Party Adds To Virus Scrutiny
It was supposed to be a scene of celebration. Instead, the Trump campaign’s election night watch party in the White House East Room has become another symbol of President Donald Trump’s cavalier attitude toward a virus that is ripping across the nation and infecting more than 100,000 people a day. Polls suggest that attitude was a serious drag on the president’s reelection bid as voters chose to deny Trump a second term in favor of his Democratic rival, now President-Elect Joe Biden. And the party — with few masks and no social distancing — is now under additional scrutiny after the president’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows, became the latest top White House official to contract the virus, which has now killed more than 237,000 people in the U.S. alone. (Colvin, 11/8)
