After urging little Thanksgiving, San Jose mayor apologizes for rally that broke Covid rules



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The mayor of San Jose, Calif., Apologized on Tuesday for failing to follow state coronavirus restrictions at a Thanksgiving meal in latest example of an official not following health protocols public.

Mayor Sam Liccardo has apologized after NBC Bay Area reported that he appeared to have celebrated the party with his elderly parents at their home with an unknown number of guests.

In one pre-Thanksgiving message last weekLiccardo had urged people to “cancel this year’s large gatherings and focus on each other’s safety.”

In a statement Tuesday, Liccardo said he was one of eight people from five households celebrating the holiday with his parents. Statewide protocols limit the number of households that can attend a private meeting to three.

Liccardo said the meal took place on an outdoor patio with everyone properly spaced and wearing masks when not eating. Several of them had dined together once or twice a week for several months as a “stable group,” he said, and other parents who would usually have attended the celebration did not. .

“I understand my obligation as a public official to provide exemplary compliance with public health orders, and certainly not to ignore them,” he said. “I am committed to doing better.”

The apology came weeks after California Gov. Gavin Newsom apologized for attending a birthday party at French Laundry, an upscale Napa County restaurant.

The governor, who has issued frequent and forceful appeals urging people to follow the state’s public health measures, apologized after a Los Angeles Fox affiliate posted photos of the November 6 rally.

Denver Mayor Michael Hancock was also surprised last week on a trip to Mississippi for Thanksgiving. About 30 minutes before his flight left, Hancock tweeted to “avoid travel, if you can.”

Newsom said monday that Covid-19 hospitalizations had increased so rapidly in recent weeks that it could reimpose strict stay-at-home orders. He estimated that if the rate of spread of the virus continued, California could run out of intensive care beds before Christmas.



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