Chicago Mayor Seen Maskless at WNBA Game, Violating Mandates

Brittany Bernstein
·2 min read
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Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot appeared to attend a WNBA game maskless over the weekend, in violation of local and state mandates.

In a photo she posted to Twitter, the Democratic mayor can be seen maskless at the game surrounded by a crowd of masked spectators. Chicago and the state of Illinois both require that masks be worn at all indoor public venues by individuals over the age of two, regardless of vaccination status.

The commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health, Allison Arwady, enacted the city’s mask mandate, which has been in effect since August 20.

In 2020, Lightfoot defended herself against another COVID-19 restriction controversy after she was caught getting a haircut while a statewide stay-at-home order was in place.

“I’m the public face of this city,” Lightfoot said at the time. “I’m on national media and I’m out in the public eye … I think what really people want to talk about is, we’re talking about people dying here. We’re talking about significant health disparities. I think that’s what people care most about.”

Lightfoot is one of several Democrats who have become ensnared in scandals over COVID-19 restrictions, including President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden who were seen violating Washington, D.C.’s indoor mask mandate at an upscale Georgetown restaurant on Saturday.

Both California Governor Gavin Newsom and D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser have been criticized during the pandemic after breaking their own rules on masking, as well.

Last November, photos obtained by FOX 11 Los Angeles showed the governor and his wife in an unmasked group eating shoulder-to-shoulder indoors at a birthday party for Jason Kinney, a longtime lobbyist and Newsom adviser, at French Laundry.

Meanwhile, Bowser came under fire in July after she held her own maskless birthday celebration hours before her mask mandate went into effect. She was again seen maskless hours after the mandate went into effect during an indoor wedding reception.

In September, she again flouted her own mask rules when she shared a picture of herself maskless with a group of women at an indoor Jack and Jill summit.

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