Under questioning during a media scrum yesterday, San Francisco Mayor London Breed (D) gave a perfectly reasonable answer as to why she violated the mask mandate imposed on San Francisco's 900,000 residents—regardless of their vaccination status.
Everyone should remain mindful of the dangers of COVID-19, given its propensity to mutate and the unintentional effect a physically healthy person could have by unintentionally transmitting the virus to the immunocompromised. The problem with Breed's response is that it highlights how politicians have ignored COVID guidelines while exacerbating the pandemic-related anxiety felt by millions. (RELATED: Bill Maher Lambastes Media for Overhyping COVID Fears)
As Reason.com reports:
Breed mentioned a few times that everyone in the venue was vaccinated, in accordance with current city law. She failed to note that venues filled exclusively with vaccinated people are not exempt from her indoor mask mandate.
“No, I'm not gonna sip and put my mask on, sip and put my mask on, sip and put my mask on, eat and put my mask on,” continued Breed. “While I'm eating and drinking, yes, I'm gonna keep my mask off.” When she goes to restaurants, Breed said, “same thing, I'm leaving my mask down while I'm enjoying my food, I'm not putting it on, taking it off…you all know that's not realistic….We don't need the fun police to come in and try to micromanage and tell us what we should or shouldn't be doing. We know what we need to do to protect ourselves.”
SEE ALSO: High-Profile Democrat Openly Flouts Mask Mandate
She's right: It's not realistic. Nor, I suppose, was it realistic to expect Breed to adhere to her own strict COVID rules. Earlier in the pandemic, the night after California Gov. Gavin Newsom was caught dining at the French Laundry, Breed had her own scandal when reporters realized that she too had dined at the Michelin-starred restaurant to celebrate the 60th birthday of socialite Gorretti Lo Lui. As politicians like Newsom and Breed warned their constituents to avoid large gatherings to stave off California's dire November 2020 COVID surge, both of them were caught doing the opposite in quick succession.
Now that she's been caught red-handed, Breed has succinctly communicated that the indoor mask mandate isn't necessary for a venue filled exclusively with vaccinated people to operate safely. The risk of breakthrough infection is small—and even for those unlucky vaccinated few who do come down with COVID, they can rest (or gallivant) much easier knowing their chances of dying from it are infinitesimally small. Breed has full power to end the mandate now that she has realized how silly it is in practice and now that she has rightfully rebuked the concept of sending fun police out to micromanage how adults enjoy themselves.
Breed made the adult decision to have a good time, presumably made easier by the San Francisco Bay Area's high vaccination rate.
As of this article's publication, 676,000 Americans, roughly one in 500, have succumbed to the coronavirus.
