Haircuts, parties and masks: Leaders criticized for ignoring own coronavirus orders
A handful of U.S. leaders are catching heat from the coronavirus-weary public for violating safety orders put in place amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
President Donald Trump is among them, refusing recent guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urging people to wear cloth masks in public as a way to protect against the virus that has around 400,000 confirmed cases nationwide, according to Johns Hopkins University. Nearly 13,000 have died in the US while another 22,000 have recovered, with more than 1.4 million confirmed cases and 83,000 deaths worldwide.
Trump made the face mask announcement during a daily press briefing April 3, yet neither he nor members of his COVID-19 task force have been spotted wearing the face coverings.
“I just don’t want to wear one myself,” the POTUS admitted at Friday’s news conference.
According to ABC News, the CDC recommendation came after a surge in “asymptomatic” cases, meaning infected persons can still pass the disease along to others even if they aren’t exhibiting symptoms.
Trump seemed unfazed by the warning, saying: “It’s a recommendation. They recommend it. I am feeling good. I just don’t want to be doing — I don’t know. Somehow sitting in the Oval Office behind that beautiful Resolute Desk, the great Resolute Desk, I think wearing a face mask as I greet presidents, prime ministers, dictators, kings, queens, I don’t know, it somehow, I don’t see it for myself.”
When pressed again about his lack of a mask Sunday, Trump told a White House reporter he would wear one if he “thought it was important,” ABC News reports.
The president isn’t the only one accused of skirting measures meant to keep people safe during the outbreak. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot drew criticism this week after photos posted to social media showed her after she got a haircut — despite a state-wide stay-at-home order that shuttered barbershops and salons.
Lightfoot, who took office last year, acknowledged booking a private hair appointment. She defended the decision at a news conference, saying she takes her personal grooming “very seriously.”
“I think what really people want to talk about is, we’re talking about people dying here,” she added, according to the Chicago Tribune. “We’re talking about significant health disparities. I think that’s what people care most about.”
Recently, Lightfoot has issued public service announcements encouraging folks to “stay home, stay lives” amid the pandemic. In video skit posted to her office’s Twitter page last week, she jokingly admonishes someone on the phone: “Debbie, getting your roots done is not essential!”
The mayor faced criticism over the mixed messaging, local station WCIA reported.
“I’m the public face of this city,” she told a reporter. . “I’m on national media and I’m out in the public eye. I take my personal hygiene very seriously. I felt like I needed to have a haircut.”
Lightfoot insisted the stylist took precautions by wearing a mask and gloves while cutting her hair.
Fellow Illinois mayor Brant Walker, who heads the metro-St. Louis city of Alton, didn’t take the state’s stay-at-home order lightly and ordered local police to enforce the new policy. Authorities issued several citations over the weekend, busting a group of bargoers that included Walker’s wife.
In a Facebook post, the mayor said he was utterly “embarrassed” after police identified his wife as one of several people cited at a downtown bar in the wee hours of Sunday morning. Each person was cited for “reckless conduct,” the St. Louis Post Dispatch reported.
“I am embarrassed by this incident and apologize to the citizens of Alton for any embarrassment this incident may cause our city,” Walker said in a statement.
The mayor said he urged the city’s police chief not to show his wife any preferential treatment.
“My wife is an adult capable of making her own decisions, and in this instance she exhibited a stunning lack of judgment,” he added. “She now faces the same consequences for her ill-advised decision as the other individuals who chose to violate the ‘stay at home’ order during this incident.”
This story was originally published April 8, 2020 at 7:40 AM with the headline "Haircuts, parties and masks: Leaders criticized for ignoring own coronavirus orders."