Politicians Defying Their Own COVID Lockdowns: How do People Feel About it?
Pictured above is California Governor Gavin Newsom. Newsom broke his own coronavirus rules after dining at a restaurant with a dozen other maskless guests.
As the United States nears its one-year anniversary since the first nationwide lockdown, pandemic fatigue is as real as ever. With restrictions being in place since the middle of March, when will people no longer listen to the temporary laws?
Except there are already people not following COVID protocols. Not only are ordinary citizens deciding to defy COVID restrictions, the lawmakers who themselves put in place those restrictions are. Multnomah County Commissioner Sharon Meieran, despite saying that Governor Kate Brown should lock the state down again, vacationed to Hawaii. California Governor Galvin Newson attended a maskless dinner with almost a dozen others that included a lobbyist and two California Medical Association members. Newson’s dinner was on November 6th, just before California put in place heavy restrictions for the holiday season. Many other lawmakers have broken their own COVID restrictions as well, and some constituents are upset at the hypocritical behavior.
Isabel Crespo, the junior executive editor at the Jesuit Chronicle, says that lawmakers are the ones that need to follow the rules the most in order to set a good example.
“I think that lawmakers have a moral obligation to follow what they are asserting to the people” Crespo said. “They are setting an example and I think that it is their responsibility and it is also in their job description too. Whatever they expect the people to do they should follow the same rules and regulations especially during COVID.”
Catie Dice, a sophomore at Jesuit High School, believes that this kind of hypocritical behavior creates much of the polarized stances towards COVID in American society.
“When figureheads and leaders for specific parties go against their own rules, it creates even more polarization and arguing between the different communities in our country,” Dice said. “Politicians being hypocritical achieves nothing but negative effects and positive tests.”
With lawmakers making their own safety choices about COVID, some believe that COVID should be battled the same way throughout the population: making individual choices based on one’s discretion.
“Much of the frustrations around COVID restrictions…can be traced to the desire to make reasonable and rational choices for oneself and one’s community,” junior Ethan McBride said. “When Galvin Newsom ate dinner indoors, he believed he could do so safely. Should that choice not be made available to the American people as well?
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By: Charlie Nguyen
No changes were made
