Louisiana Governor Dined Maskless at Country Club Despite Guidelines

Louisiana’s Democratic governor John Bel Edwards was spotted dining at a country club without a mask, despite his own coronavirus health restrictions requiring people to wear masks in public. 

Edwards addressed the recently surfaced photograph, which shows him and others dining at the Baton Rouge Country Club in mid-November, at a press conference on Wednesday. Despite his phase three lockdown orders, which mandate that people wear masks whenever they are within six feet of another person, Edwards claimed he did nothing wrong. 

"There was absolutely nothing I did that day that violated the rules that were in place in phase three," Edwards said. 

The photo shows Edwards standing near other country club members without a mask, leaning through a doorway to reenter the building.

In an op-ed in the Advocate published just days before Thanksgiving, Edwards told Louisianians to "always wear your mask if you are around people not part of your immediate household." 

Edwards is the latest in a slew of Democratic elected officials who have violated their own coronavirus health restrictions. 

San Francisco mayor London Breed and California governor Gavin Newsom attended mid-pandemic dinner parties—without masks—at a fancy restaurant in Napa County. 

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot had their hair done at salons, despite mandates closing salons. 

San Jose mayor Sam Liccardo spent Thanksgiving with family members despite urging his constituents not to gather to celebrate the holiday. 

And a Los Angeles County supervisor dined outdoors at a Santa Monica restaurant in November just hours after she voted to ban outdoor dining.