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The party is over.
Former President Barack Obama canceled controversial 60th anniversarye birthday party at Martha’s Vineyard, citing the spread of the Delta variant of the coronavirus.
“Due to the new spread of the Delta variant over the past week, the President and Mrs. Obama have decided to drastically reduce the event to include only family and close friends,” the spokesperson said. Obama’s Hannah Hankins in a statement Wednesday morning. New York Times reported.
“He appreciates that others send their birthday greetings from afar and looks forward to seeing people soon,” she added.
Obama’s move follows a Post report, which cited a source as saying the former president was creating a public health “nightmare” by trying to lure nearly 700 people into his party amid a nationwide wave of the variant and new restrictions.
George Clooney, Steven Spielberg and Oprah Winfrey were among the 475 guests expected alongside around 200 employees.
Former Obama senior adviser David Axelrod told The Times: “They have been concerned about the virus from the start, asking guests if they have been vaccinated, asking them to be tested near the event . “
He added: “But when it was planned, the situation was quite different. So they reacted to the changing circumstances.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Monday insisted on the massive shindig – and stood up for it.
When asked if Obama is “setting a bad example on the severity of COVID-19 by throwing a big birthday party with hundreds of people,” Psaki said the location is in a county listed by the CDC as having only moderate transmission of the coronavirus – although there is an outbreak of the more contagious delta variant of COVID-19 near Cape Cod, which is just over 80 km away.
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