San Francisco Mayor London Breed defended herself after being caught maskless at a city jazz club in violation of her city’s own strict ordinance, telling reporters that she “was feeling the spirit” and not thinking about masking, and claiming that San Francisco should not be the “fun police,” even during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Breed was caught, last week, “dancing behind a table full of drinks,” and “not wearing a face covering as she sang and posed for photos,” according to a local ABC affiliate.
“Unmasked, singing, and dancing with an equally unmasked crowd, cell phone video shows Mayor London Breed inside a club in the Tenderloin on Wednesday night,” the outlet noted. “Breed and others enjoyed a surprise performance by Bay Area R&B group, Tony! Toni! Toné!, at the Black Cat on Eddy and Leavenworth Streets. But the maskless moment flies in the face of what [] Mayor Breed has been telling San Franciscans all pandemic long.”
I chose to go to @sfblackcat last night for my first indoor concert since the pandemic … and this happened 🤩🙌🏽🎶 pic.twitter.com/x68lRya0Wh
— Mariecar Mendoza (@SFMarMendoza) September 16, 2021
On Monday, Breed blasted back at her critics, claiming that she was following the rules, and also that, in the moment, she was not considering her own mask mandate.
“While I’m eating and drinking I’m going to keep my mask off,” Breed said, though the photo shows her dancing. “And yes, in the time while we’re drinking like everyone else there, we were all having a good time and again all vaccinated.”
Breed will likely know that San Francisco’s mask mandate does not take vaccination status into account. According to the city’s website, individuals “must wear a mask indoors in public places, even if you are vaccinated … You must wear a mask even if you are vaccinated.”
“You should still get vaccinated,” the city’s guidance continues, “because it’s the best way to protect yourself from COVID-19, including the Delta variant.”
Those details, however, are immaterial when you are “feeling the spirit” — at least according to Breed.
“My drink was sitting at the table. I got up and started dancing because I was feeling the spirit and I wasn’t thinking about a mask,” Breed explained. “I was thinking about having a good time and in the process I was following the health orders.”
She and her friends, she continued, “don’t need the fun police to come in and micromanage and tell us what we should or shouldn’t be doing.”
“The fact that this story became about me and less about the artists and nightlife, which I will continue to enjoy in San Francisco, is very unfortunate,” she said.
Local media quickly noted that Breed has, in the past, specifically addressed her own situation.
“You know wear your mask, look at the environment, and be aware that COVID is still out there,” Breed said back in May.
In July, Breed noted that “we are definitely close to a mandate of wearing masks and I know people are tired of being told what to do but the fact is this is where is are.”