Barack Obama has significantly scaled down his 60th birthday party after receiving backlash for inviting nearly 500 guests amid soaring Covid-19 cases.
The former president turns 60 today (August 4), and had initially planned to celebrate the milestone this Saturday with a huge party of 475 guests at his mansion in Martha's Vineyard.
The birthday plans were made in spite of reports by the CDC of a spike in Covid-19 cases and deaths. Needless to say, a number of people took umbrage with the large-scale celebration - and it appears the Democrat has now listened to the people.
Originally, the sizable guest list included Oprah Winfrey, George Clooney, Steven Spielberg as well as hundreds of former Obama administration officials and Democratic donors.
Now, only close friends and family will be invited to Obama's home for a much smaller gathering.
Per The New York Times, Hannah Hankins, a spokeswoman for the former president, said in a statement on Wednesday, August 4: "Due to the new spread of the Delta variant over the past week, the President and Mrs. Obama have decided to significantly scale back the event to include only family and close friends.
"He’s appreciative of others sending their birthday wishes from afar and looks forward to seeing people soon."
Originally, the plan was that all 475 guests had to be vaccinated and had to receive a negative Covid test result. What's more, a "Covid coordinator" had been hired in order to ensure certain safety protocols were being followed.
According to the 60-year-old's former senior adviser David Axelrod, the Obamas were "concerned about the virus from the beginning, asking invited guests if they had been vaccinated, requesting that they get a test proximate to the event."
He added: "But when this was planned, the situation was quite different. So they responded to the changing circumstances."
Health officials are still advising against big parties, though, particularly with the rise of the Delta variant.
Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, told CNN: "If you're talking about a small party like I might have at my house for six or eight people who are all fully vaccinated, I do not believe, at this point, we need to put masks on to be next to each other.
"But if there were 100 people, and, of course, how are you really going to be sure about people's vaccination status?"
