Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer has apologized for apparently violating state-mandated social distancing guidelines at an East Lansing eatery.
Whitmer issued an apology on Sunday after an image showing the Democrat Governor spending time with about a dozen unmasked people at The Landshark Bar & Grill turned viral.
The picture was posted on social media by a person who attended the gathering but later deleted the post.
Photos of the gathering were first published by Breitbart News, a pro-Trump media outlet.
Whitmer and accomplices were seated around tables that had been pushed together at a time capacity limits and social distancing protocols were in force for restaurants and bars in Michigan in the wake of the pandemic.
“Yesterday, I went with friends to a local restaurant. As more people arrived, the tables were pushed together. Because we were all vaccinated, we didn’t stop to think about it,” Whitmer said in a statement Sunday.
“In retrospect, I should have thought about it. I am human. I made a mistake, and I apologize”, she added.
Whitmer insisted that she had been committed to following public health protocols throughout the pandemic.
She is the second Democrat Governor to draw criticism for defying pandemic-related rules.
California’s Gavin Newsom apologized after he and his wife were caught dining with 10 others without wearing masks at the French Laundry restaurant in Napa last year.
Newsom was the first U.S. Governor to issue a statewide stay-at-home order in March 2020.
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