White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany pans Biden victory celebrations as ‘super spreader’ events

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany is scolding Joe Biden for withholding comment about the spontaneous mass gatherings popping up all across the country to celebrate his victory over Donald Trump.

From New York to DC to San Francisco, millions of Americans poured onto the streets on Saturday in jubilation as news networks projected Mr Biden would win the 2020 election.

“Where is @JoeBiden calling on the massive Super Spreader events held in his name to end?” Ms McEnany tweeted on Saturday, a reminder that the US is still in the throes of the coronavirus pandemic.

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Her tweet included a video from CNN White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins that pans over the thousands of people dancing and popping champagne bottles at the intersection just north of Lafayette Square by the White House in Washington.

Law enforcement has set up a two-block perimeter all the way around the White House, as a security measure. In the past, even for most of the Trump presidency, pedestrians could walk right up to the gate edging the front lawn of the executive residence and offices.

The Associated Press projected Mr Biden would win the 2020 election mid-day on Saturday after calling Pennsylvania and its 20 electoral votes in his favour. That put the Democratic former vice president over the 270 electoral vote threshold to win the presidency. He is expected to carry some other outstanding swing states such as Georgia and Nevada.

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Current social distancing guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention caution people to wear masks and try to stay six feet or farther apart from others who aren’t in their immediate sphere of social interaction.

While the celebrants in DC were at times not compliant with the social distancing guidelines, virtually all of them were wearing masks properly affixed over their mouths and noses unless they were posing for a picture or sipping champagne from plastic cups or straight from the bottle, The Independent previously reported from the ground.

Sonya Mishra, 27, of Oakland, California, marvelled at the celebratory spirit outside the White House. Everyone was wearing masks, no one was carrying a gun — a stark contrast to the pro-Trump demonstrations outside county election offices all across the country this week.

“We're celebrating, but we're also, like, acknowledging science,” said Ms Mishra, who had been visiting her parents in Delaware but made the quick journey south to DC for Saturday’s celebration.

Mr Trump has caught criticism for holding in-person campaign rallies this summer and fall, where thousands of his supporters would gather, many of them without masks.

Some outbreaks of Covid-19 have been linked to the president’s rallies, such as his indoor event in Tulsa, Oklahoma, which is where Herman Cain, the Republican former presidential candidate, is believed to have caught the illness that killed him in July.