Obama to hold 60th birthday bash on Vineyard amid COVID outbreak, dozens reportedly invited

Former President Obama is reportedly planning a party on Martha’s Vineyard for dozens of guests to celebrate his 60th birthday – and presumably also for the backlash he’s getting for having a mass gathering during the summer COVID-19 outbreak.

Obama and his family have in recent summers spent time on the island off of the Massachusetts coast and in 2019 bought a $11.75 million home in the Edgartown section.

Guests will reportedly be asked to take a coronavirus test and be vaccinated ahead of the event. 

"Will the media cover this as the next big super-spreader event?" tweeted Brent Bozell, founder of the Media Research Center.

The recent spike in COVID-19 cases, attributed to the emergence in the U.S. of the high-contagious delta variant and roughly 50% of the population being unvaccinated, has resulted in numerous orders across the country for residents to again start wearing a mask, though essentially indoors. Among those reportedly being invited are Hollywood stars Oprah Winfrey and George Clooney, and the 90’s grunge band Pearl Jam has also reportedly been asked to perform. 

The birthday bash comes as Massachusetts recommends some vaccinated individuals wear face masks in public in response to threats of the delta variant.

Over the July 4 weekend, in the nearby Cape Cod town of Provincetown, large gatherings resulted in a COVID-19 breakout, with at least 130 people testing positive for the virus, many of them reportedly having already been vaccinated. 

"If you have a serious health condition or risk of developing a severe illness from COVID, you should take extra precautions. If you have a close friend or family members who have a serious health condition or a serious risk of developing a severe disease or illness from COVID, you should take extra precautions," Massachusetts Republican Gov. Charlie Baker said last week.