San Francisco’s Democrat mayor broke Covid rules at restaurant just ONE DAY after Gov Newsom was busted there
THE Mayor of San Francisco reportedly dined at an upscale Californian restaurant just three days before banning indoor dining in the city, as a slew of officials ignore their own Covid orders.
London Breed and seven other guests attended a 60th birthday bash for socialite Gorretti Lo Lui at The French Laundry on November 7, according to the .
The dinner party came one day after California Governor Gavin Newsom controversially attended a shindig at the same restaurant with 11 other maskless guests, flouting his own Covid rules.
At the time, new state guidelines discouraged social gatherings of more than three households.
The Sun has contacted Breed for comment.
Breed’s spokesman Jeff Cretan confirmed the mayor’s French Laundry dinner with the Chronicle, telling the newspaper it was a “small family birthday dinner.”
It’s not clear how many households were included at the event.
“I cannot emphasize enough how important it is that everyone act responsibly to reduce the spread of the virus,” Breed said in a statement the day she banned indoor dining in San Francisco.
“Every San Franciscan needs to do their part so that we can start moving in the right direction again."
For Breed, it was a risky move to attend the dinner, as it came just days after Newsom, a Democrat, landed himself in hot water when he was photographed at the same venue in Napa Valley.
The group was celebrating the birthday of his political adviser - and lobbyist - Jason Kinney while guidelines were in place to limit large gatherings and mitigate the spread of .
Newsom later described his decision to attend the dinner as a "bad mistake" after photographs emerged of him at the event.
He said that the gathering was larger than he'd expected when he arrived with his wife after their attendance prompted a huge backlash.
“I should have modeled better behavior and not joined the dinner," he said, according to .
A witness reportedly said it was in a closed-off room of the French restaurant and said the partygoers were so loud, they had to close the sliding doors.
The unnamed woman said: "I just happened to look over and realize hey is that Gavin Newsom, who is that? And I did ask one of the waitresses and she confirmed it was.
"I was able to take a couple of photos, I was able to document this especially since nobody was wearing a mask.
"It was a very large group of people shoulder to shoulder, something that he’s always telling us not to do so yeah it was a bit annoying for sure."
She said that Newsom didn't seem uncomfortable until he was leaving the restaurant when other people began to "stare" at him.
Kinney's spokesperson told KTTV the guests and restaurant "followed all applicable state and county public health guidance."
"The guests specifically required outdoor seating," the representative said. "And that’s outdoor seating, as confirmed and provided by the restaurant.”
Newsom's Communications Director Nathan Click initially said that the party “followed public health guidelines and the restaurant’s health protocols – all in line with the state’s rules for restaurant operation.”
The CA guidelines limit these “social situations that bring together people from different households at the same time in a single space or place,” to just three households.
Representatives for Kinney and Newsom didn't specify how many households were there but they didn't deny that it was more than three, per the Chronicle.
Earlier this month, Newsom urged his fellow Californians to follow the state guidelines in a Twitter appeal as ICU admissions surged by 37 percent.
Tighter restrictions are on the horizon in , where Covid cases are surging, which would include a business curfew, according to .
Earlier this week, a .
Sheila Kuehl was caught eating outside II Forno Trattoria in Santa Monico last Tuesday, reported.
Sheila Kuehl was caught eating outside II Forno Trattoria in Santa Monico last Tuesday, reported.
Just hours earlier, Kuehl had called dining alfresco "a most dangerous situation" when speaking about the pandemic.
A spokesperson for Kuehl told the outlet: "She did dine al fresco at Il Forno on the very last day it was permissible.
"She loves Il Forno, has been saddened to see it, like so many restaurants, suffer from a decline in revenue.
"She ate there, taking appropriate precautions, and sadly will not dine there again until our Public Health Orders permit."
Kuehl was among two other members of the Board of Supervisors that voted to .
"The servers are not protected from us, and they’re not protected from their other tables that they’re serving at that particular time, plus all the hours in which they’re working," Kuehl said, according to the report.
The decision took effect on Wednesday, seeing 31,000 Los Angeles restaurants closing their doors.
The monthlong curfew could be extended if rapidly worsening trends don’t improve.
What are California's curfew rules?
The "limited Stay at Home Order," affects purple-tier counties and applies to non-essential workers and gatherings, and will remain in effect until December 21 at 5am.
Under Governor Gavin Newsom's order, people from the same household are allowed to venture outside together after 10pm as long as they don't socialize with other.
Purple, or Tier 1, indicates that coronavirus is widespread in the county – with more than seven cases per 100,000, or more than eight percent of test results reported positive over seven days.
It means around 94 percent of Californians – roughly 37million people – will live in counties that are in the strictest tier of the state's roadmap to reopening.
California's new color-coded Covid system is part of the Blueprint for a Safer Economy.
The four tiers are purple, red, orange and yellow.
Purple represents counties with widespread Covid-19, red reflects areas with a substantial number of cases, orange is the moderate tier, and yellow reflects areas with a minimal number of cases.
Restaurants, breweries, wineries and bars will only be able to offer takeout, drive-thru and delivery services.
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Residents in most of the state have been placed under a curfew that requires people to stay home from 10pm to 5am unless they are responding to an emergency, shopping for groceries, picking up takeout or walking their dogs.
The monthlong curfew could be extended if rapidly worsening trends don’t improve.