Breed called out for not wearing mask at jazz club
Several public health experts criticized Mayor London Breed on Friday over images of her singing and dancing maskless in a live music venue this week — a violation of San Francisco’s indoor mask mandate.
The images, captured by The Chronicle and others at the Black Cat jazz and supper club in the Tenderloin on Wednesday, showed Breed singing and dancing without a mask while standing at her table. She and others were maskless even when they weren’t eating or drinking, which is not allowed under San Francisco’s health orders.
Though cases are falling and vaccination rates increasing in San Francisco, one public health expert called Breed’s behavior a “lapse in judgment” that could hurt her credibility as she steers
the city through the latest phase of the coronavirus pandemic.
The images spread nationally Friday, with critics seeing an example of hypocrisy by a politician who has favored strong COVID-19 restrictions.
For others, though, the episode pointed to the reality of the city’s current indoor mask law for bars, clubs and restaurants: It’s hard to enforce and easy to ignore, especially as the worst of the summer surge seems to have passed.
“Elected officials have a greater responsibility to model the behavior that’s necessary to control the pandemic,” said John Swartzberg, an infectious disease expert at UC Berkeley. “Any time the elected officials behave like this, it undermines public confidence in them and that translates to people saying, ‘Well, if the mayor can do this, I can.’ ”
Jeff Cretan, a spokesperson for the mayor, said Breed understands that following public health orders can be difficult, but asks people to do their best.
Cretan said the mayor was at a table with drinks and food, and was therefore following the guidance. But photos and video show her without a mask while standing, singing and dancing at the table, and while posing for pictures with others.
Breed told NBC Bay Area on Friday that her “drink was sitting at the table. I got up and started dancing, because I was feeling the spirit. And I wasn’t thinking about a mask. I was thinking about having a good time, and in the process, I was following the health orders.”
According to the regional mandate announced in August, everyone must wear a mask inside businesses unless they are actively eating or drinking. In addition, patrons must show proof of full vaccination before entering bars, clubs, restaurants and gyms under city law.
“Masks may be removed,” city rules state, “while actively eating or drinking at events other than indoor dining, such as live performances and movies.”
Bar and club owners contacted by The Chronicle dismissed video and photos of Breed and other patrons partying without masks as inconsequential, as people around the city similarly shed their masks for extended periods when they’re eating and drinking.
Some owners said the majority of their patrons follow the rules, and others said it’s common for people to keep their masks off even when they’re not eating or drinking.
Supervisor Matt Haney, who was photographed maskless at a separate event last week inside the Black Cat, said the city’s indoor mask mandate can be “farcical.”
Haney said he was wearing a mask whenever he walked around the club to get a drink or use the restroom. But he said the rules “tend to be open to interpretation.”
“What is happening in indoor venues where everyone is vaccinated right now is a lot of lack of clarity around what people are supposed to do and when,” he said. “If your meal is in front of you and you’ve got a glass of water in front of you, are you expected to take your mask on and off with every bite? That’s not realistic and clear enough.”
At the club Wednesday, Breed told a Chronicle reporter that she tests for the coronavirus often and said, “At the end of the day, everyone who comes in here has to show proof of vaccination. That gives me a lot of reassurance.
“I’ve been very careful, not just because I want to set an example, but because I don’t want to get COVID. I also want to make sure that I’m not someone transmitting COVID to other people,” Breed said. “This entire pandemic has been focused on keeping people safe.”
A Chronicle reporter who spoke to Breed at the Black Cat wore a mask at times in the club but, like Breed, was not wearing a mask during the interview.
“We have reminded our journalists today that they must follow the mask policies of each jurisdiction in which they are working,” said Emilio GarciaRuiz, The Chronicle’s editor in chief. “In our work, we hold others to account for their behavior and we have a responsibility to follow the same rules.”
Most patrons at the Black Cat, which serves food and drinks during its live performances, did not wear masks much of the time Wednesday. The health order urges people to be seated at a table or positioned at a stationary counter while eating or drinking, as Breed appeared to be most of the time.
Even though San Francisco is currently seeing lower case counts than earlier this summer, Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease specialist at UCSF, said the city, like the country, is still in a precarious position, and that elected officials should be diligent about following the rules.
Hong said the science is clear: Being indoors without a mask, especially while singing, is one of the riskier things people can do, even if fully vaccinated.
“We haven’t come down the mountain yet,” he said. “Even with vaccination checking, bringing together lots of noses and mouths from different households can be a risky enterprise.”
He said he doesn’t expect the images of Breed to change the way many people act in San Francisco, where residents generally follow the rules. But he is worried about giving people who are already weary of the rules an excuse to shed their masks.
Breed and her health department have adopted some of the strictest health orders of any U.S. big city throughout the pandemic. Experts credit the city’s declining case rates with its mask and vaccination mandates — one of the few cities in the country to have both — and its high rate of vaccination.
As Breed continues to lead the city through the pandemic, she is also trying to jump-start San Francisco’s economic recovery. The nightlife industry has been particularly hard hit by the pandemic, and the mayor has often urged residents to dine out and shop locally.
Cretan, Breed’s spokesperson, said the indoor mask mandate was a temporary measure to address the delta surge. He said it’s ultimately up to the Department of Public Health to rescind the order.
The San Francisco Department of Public Health said, “Our intent is to encourage people to do their best understanding that every circumstance is unique.
“We will make adjustments as needed based on science and data, and maintain a regional approach on COVID-19 mitigation strategies, when possible,” the department said in a statement.
Black Cat owner Fritz Quattlebaum said in a statement that the club “takes Covid, and city and state Covid mandates and guidance, very seriously.”
He said patrons were seated throughout the music performance Wednesday evening, eating and drinking during the evening. But when the “two lead singers of the legendary Tony! Toni! Tone! unexpectedly mounted the stage” and performed, “the crowd spontaneously erupted for a short burst of ... excitement during the brief performance.”
The mayor has been praised for her leadership during the pandemic, as San Francisco has consistently had one of the lowest case and deaths rates of any major city in the country.
But this isn’t the first time Breed has been called out over COVID-19 restrictions. The mayor was criticized earlier in the pandemic for dining at the French Laundry in Yountville with a party of eight when the state’s rules “strongly discouraged” social gatherings and capped them at three households.
She didn’t technically violate the state rules, but the dinner was at odds with San Francisco’s stricter directive at the time. Breed’s dinner came just a night after Gov. Gavin Newsom’s own French Laundry dinner, which fueled the recall election that failed this week.
Arnab Mukherjea, an associate professor of public health at Cal State East Bay, said that Breed set a bad example.
Mukherjea said that if the mayor of San Francisco, “which is arguably doing the best of the nine counties in the Bay Area, thinks it’s OK to do this because she has determined that she feels safe, then it provides encouragement for other people to make decisions based on the same criteria.
“From what I can see on that video, it would seem to me that that would be a very unsafe gathering in terms of potential for transmission,” he said.
Dr. George Rutherford, an infectious disease expert with UCSF, saw the situation differently. He said Breed’s behavior was similar to that of indoor diners who legitimately take their masks off as they eat and drink.
As long as all patrons are vaccinated, he said it’s relatively safe.
“Vaccination is 99.9% protection. That’s what really matters,” he said.
Ben Bleiman, founder of the San Francisco Bar Alliance, which represents nearly 500 bars and clubs around the city, called the images of Breed a “nothingburger.”
He said the point of the indoor mask mandate is to reduce risk, not fully eliminate it, and that it was unrealistic to expect people to follow the rules 100% of the time.
“There’s the letter of the law, and then there’s the spirit of the law,” Bleiman said. “Following it exactly to a T may not be practical for most and it’s very hard to enforce.”