Trump under fire for hosting Christmas parties as
Covid deaths mount
String of White House events with little social
distancing flout official guidelines while 3,000 Americans a day are dying
David Smith
in Washington
@smithinamerica
Fri 11 Dec
2020 18.03 GMTLast modified on Fri 11 Dec 2020 18.22 GMT
Donald
Trump has drawn withering criticism for continuing to host Christmas parties at
the White House even as America’s daily death toll from the coronavirus hit a
record 3,000.
Despite
public health guidelines warning against indoor gatherings, the White House has
pressed ahead with as many as two dozen of its traditional holiday events.
On
Wednesday night, Trump hosted about 200 guests for the annual Hanukah
celebration. Photos and videos posted on social media showed most attendees
wearing masks but crowding tightly together to witness brief remarks by a
maskless president.
Earlier
that day, Chris Ruddy, a conservative media executive and friend of Trump, said:
“I’ll certainly wear a mask going to the party. I’m not sure I’m gonna wear one
as I’m eating and drinking and walking around.”
On Thursday
night, Trump again hosted scores of guests for the annual congressional ball –
branded the “Covid ball” by darkly humorous critics.
The White
House parties allow guests to wander through ceremonial rooms, admire Christmas
trees and other elaborate decorations and enjoy copious amounts of food and
drink.
When asked
this week about whether such activities were responsible in the middle of a
worsening pandemic, Trump insisted that the events could be held safely.
A reporter
challenged the president: “Across the street, you’ve been holding holiday
parties with hundreds of people, many not wearing masks. Why are you modeling a
different behavior to the American people than what your scientists tell?”
Trump
replied: “Well, they’re Christmas parties, and frankly, we’ve reduced the
number very substantially, as you know. And I see a lot of people at the
parties wearing masks. I mean, I would say that I look out at the audience at
those parties, and we have a lot of people wearing masks, and I think that’s a
good thing.”
Guests at
the events have included Alex Azar, the health secretary, a key figure in the
government’s pandemic response. He told CNN that he “felt comfortable” and
“safe”, stating: “Most of the individuals around me were wearing masks. We
worked to keep distance.”
The
president and more than 50 people in his circle have been infected with the
coronavirus, including Rudy Giuliani and Jenna Ellis, lawyers who have been
travelling to numerous public gatherings in an attempt to overturn his defeat
in the presidential election.
The White
House swearing-in of Amy Coney Barrett as a supreme court justice was
subsequently labelled a coronavirus super-spreader event. Photograph: Shawn
Thew/EPA
Ellis
attended a Christmas party at the White House last Friday and was reportedly
not wearing a mask while mingling with other guests.
Susan Glasser, a staff writer at the New Yorker
magazine, wrote: “Welcome to late-stage Trumpism: defiant decadence with a
potentially deadly edge.”
The revels
at the White House pose a particular headache for local government officials in
Washington, where the average case rate is setting daily records. They have
repeatedly called for residents to avoid Thanksgiving and Christmas gatherings
this year.
Mayor
Muriel Bowser last month increased the city’s virus restrictions, limiting the
size of indoor gatherings to 10 people. But the White House and other federal
properties are not obliged to comply with those rules.
At least
one White House event, a Rose Garden ceremony for the supreme court nominee Amy
Coney Barrett in September, was later labeled a super-spreader after multiple
attendees tested positive.
The state
department, led by the Trump ally Mike Pompeo, has also scheduled a series of
indoor holiday gatherings. It claimed that all events followed local guidance
and the department’s own “Diplomacy Strong” virus protocols, including a mask
requirement for all attendees and temperature checks at the entrances.
The first
doses of a Covid-19 vaccine are expected to begin distribution in the US as
early as next week, with the first batch reserved for healthcare professionals
and first responders. But experts warn that, before a vaccine can be widely
distributed, the worst is yet to come. On Wednesday the US set a new record for
single-day deaths from coronavirus, with 3,054.
Robert
Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said: “We
are in the timeframe now that probably for the next 60 to 90 days we’re going
to have more deaths per day than we had at 9/11 or we had at Pearl Harbor.”
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
Sem comentários:
Enviar um comentário