Former president Barack Obama has set aside ongoing concerns over large events during the coronavirus pandemic to push ahead with plans to throw a massive outdoor party on Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts next weekend to mark his 60th birthday.
Sources told Axios hundreds of guests are expected to be in attendance Saturday to fill Obama’s nearly 30-acre estate. All will be asked to be vaccinated while a “COVID-coordinator” will be on hand to make sure protocols are followed by invitees.
A source also said negative coronavirus tests are required for every guest, but didn’t give details on just how that would be policed.
“It’s going to be big,” one source told The Hill.
The size of the party has raised concerns as the Delta coronavirus variant continues to swirl, particularly due to the recent breakthrough cases in nearby Provincetown that helped shape the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention’s new mask guidance.
The party was first mooted last month but now looks to be firmly going ahead, coronavirus threats or not.
Martha’s Vineyard still does not fall under the CDC’s classification of “substantially-high” risk, and Obama is taking precautions, including hiring the aforementioned “Covid coordinator.”
Obama’s 55th birthday party, held at the White House, was attended by Paul McCartney, Nick Jonas, Ellen DeGeneres, Stevie Wonder, and Magic Johnson.
As Breitbart News reported, that party was his last celebrated while in office.
Current president Joe Biden will not be among those attending this celebration, however, a White House spokesperson told Axios. The spokesperson said he would otherwise catch up with the Obamas “soon.”