After President-elect Joe Biden's victory, supporters flooded the streets of cities in the United States in celebration. These celebrations, however, were condemned by Kayleigh McEnany, Press Secretary to the White House, calling them "coronavirus superspreaders" and called Biden to denounce the celebrations.
As major news networks called the 2020 US Presidential Election in Biden's favor, it took only a few hours if not minutes for Democrat and Biden supporters to take the streets and celebrate the victory. People were popping champagne, honking their horns, mass gathering and landmarks and singing "Party in the USA."
There were also groups who have gathered outside the White House to celebrate Biden's win.
However, as the celebrations went on, 126,742 new cases of COVID-19 were reported in the US. It was the third in a series of days that the total of new coronavirus cases in the country exceeded 120,000, Newsweek reported.
While many of those who joined the celebratory events have face masks worn, they were not practicing social distancing.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended that the distance between people who do not live in the same household should stay at least 6 feet apart and have constantly reminded that masks are not substitutes for social distancing.
In a tweet, McEnany condemned the mass celebrations and asked where the president-elect is to call out the "Superspreader" events that were held in his name. With the tweet was a video of people gathered outside the White House supporting Biden, AOL reported.
Where is @JoeBiden calling on the massive Super Spreader events held in his name to end ️ pic.twitter.com/8JaofpgMge — Kayleigh McEnany (@kayleighmcenany) November 7, 2020
On Sunday, Vice President-elect reminded people through a tweet to continue to practice health protocols such as social distancing and wearing masks since COVID-19 is still an ongoing problem.
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Despite not knowing whether the gatherings that happened on Saturday will lead to a surge of cases in the US, many have noted that Black Lives Matter protests in cities that happened in early summer has not been directly linked to any coronavirus surges.
Public Health officials and the CDC have repeatedly stated that wearing face masks and social distancing are the main ways to curb the spread of the coronavirus. But they also stated that if social distancing is not kept, it is better to hold gatherings in open places rather than inside.
If the events, however, indeed lead to a rise in the number of cases, it would not be the first time that a "superspreader" happened in DC.
In October, an event held in the Rose Garden to announce Amy Coney Barrett's nomination to the Supreme Court was dubbed by infectious diseases expert, Anthony Fauci as a "superspreader event." This is after more than 200 people were present at the event and did not practice social distancing, and were not wearing facemasks, USA Today reported.
There were also several photos which showed officials from the Whtie House gather inside without social distancing and are unmasked.
Just a few days after the Rose Garden event, dozens of those who were present, including McEnany tested positive for COVID-19.
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