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Kim Janey has her Gavin Newsom moment
By adamg on Sat, 08/28/2021 - 1:26pm
Massimo Tiberi, owner of Arya Trattoria on Hanover Street, posts Instagram photos of celebrities posing with him. So when Kim Janey walked in last night, he had a pic snapped and posted it - and then fairly quickly took it down because neither of them had a mask on, which proved a tad embarrassing given that Boston's indoor mask mandate, which Janey herself announced, went into effect Friday morning.
The Herald's Sean Philip Cotter caught up with the acting mayor this morning and asked her about it. It didn't go well.
“When you're you're drinking and eating, you can take it off,” she continued. I asked about how she wasn’t seated at a table in the photo, to which she responded by thanking me and leaving
— Sean Philip Cotter (@CotterReporter) August 28, 2021
One of the reasons California's Gavin Newsom is facing a recall election this fall is on account of him getting caught at a large dinner at a fancy restaurant last year after he had urged his fellow Californians to avoid such get-togethers in the middle of the pandemic.
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Comments
Mayor Janey caught maskless…
…in a room full of people who were also maskless, because they were dining.
Buuuuuut
Per her own words, the only time you can take your mask of is in the actual physical activity of eating. Mask MUST be on at all times otherwise including but not limited to - sitting, standing, using the restroom, taking pictures, any time you are not directly shoveling food into your mouth. If we don’t follow the rules, what are we?
And yet..
She was the one in the room who makes, well, actual public policy, so your point, if you have one, is?
The point is…
Meh.
As pro-mask mandate as I am, it’s hard to get worked up over presumably vaccinated people taking masks off temporarily in a room full of people who aren’t wearing masks. It’s not like she’s strolling through an elder care center or a hospital maskless.
If I follow your logic
Mask mandates are fine, but in most circumstances people don’t have to follow them?
I believe the rule is maskless while eating or drinking, not maskless until you leave the host station.
In practice…
What would the difference be, epidemiologically, if this picture was taken with Janey and Tiberi seated and with plates of spaghetti in front of them?
Sure, it’s an unforced gaffe that a skilled political operator may have avoided, but I see it as minor and I hardly think it rises to the hypocrisy of governors/mayors ordering shutdowns and then having maskless private dinner parties.
It's not a minor gaffe
It is HER policy and she can't be bothered to model the expected behavior. That is literally part of the job of being the chief public official of any body politic -- to set an example for the citizenry whom you lead. If anything, a photo op like that on the first day of a new policy is exactly when she should have been wearing her damn mask to show the citizens of Boston what they ought to be doing.
This isn't even a "skilled political operator" thing. This is a "lick of common sense" thing.
If there's no difference epidemiologically between the context of this picture and having them seated with food or drink at the table, then why is there even a mask mandate to begin with?
Like I said.
Meh.
Wait, you are pro-mandate but
Wait, you are pro-mandate but also ok with picking and choosing when to follow the mandate?
“ Sure, it’s an unforced gaffe that a skilled political operator may have avoided, but I see it as minor and I hardly think it rises to the hypocrisy of governors/mayors ordering shutdowns and then having maskless private dinner parties.“
That’s pretty in line with what she did.
Lol
She posed for a picture with her mask off. In a room full of people who are also allowed to have their masks off. In no way is this in line with the big stories of hipocritical governors/mayors.
I get that people don’t like Janey and have an ax to grind and I understand the election is around the corner, but come on.
Even if you dismiss the
Even if you dismiss the moment captured in the photo as "meh", it grew worse from there. Today when given the opportunity to fess up about the photo, Janey ducked it and stuck her head in the sand.
That attitude of hers partly explains why so many people (including the majority of her own coworkers on the City Council) dislike Janey and have an axe to grind. She gained a little bit of power, becoming Acting @MayorKimJaney, and it went straight to her head.
The other option would be
That there would be no indoor dining at all. This is where the public health community fudges things a bit for the sake of the hospitality industry. Masks unless eating is a heck of a lot better than no eating.
I’ve been eating at restaurants since the state said okay with conditions. I keep my mask on until I get something to eat or drink in front of me and put my mask back on when I am finished, masking up if I feel the call of “nature” during my meal. I do this because, well, I respect mask mandates, even when they were advisories.
yeah, it's a tough call
I like all our restaurants and want them to stay open but OTOH, I'm eating on patios or take-out indefinitely.
Also an unforced error by
Also an unforced error by Janey in the midst of election season- I'll meet you by the entrance to the Cape tunnel if you think Wu/ Cambell/ et al are going to go with this nuanced take and leave her alone on this
Politicians….
Need to just say to wear your mask 99% of the time. We all mess up, forget to wear or mask, or have to adjust, etc, etc. She took a photo with someone and didn’t want to have a mask on. That’s within that 1%. People me need to stop the nonsense on this stuff imo.
At that point
Just require vaccination for restaurants and not masks since the usefulness of the masks is dubious when they aren't worn for most of the visit.
Yes, masks plus vaccines are better from a pure public health standpoint. But no indoor dining is better still if preventing cases is paramount.
Inconsistent mask usage without a vaccine requirement is bad policy. It won't significantly slow the spread nor the amount of care needed when people inevitably get infected.
She didn't get the memo?
Always wear your mask when on camera and always assume you are on camera so ... LEAVE IT ON.
Do as I say
Not as a I do.
Rules for thee
But not for me.
'Tis the Peter Principle and
'Tis the Peter Principle and nothing more.
Y’all
Are forcing it, as usual. It’s not that serious.
Historians are going to destroy us over Covid
They're going to read comments on places like UH, Twitter, etc., and it will be obvious that we were collectively profoundly stupid and petty.
And once Covid exploded because of that, WE DOUBLED DOWN on the stupid and petty.
Now we've evolved Delta, and politicians STILL can't even be bothered to set a symbolic good example.
Watching Acting Mayor Janey
Watching Acting Mayor Janey is like watching someone stepping on a rake.