The daughter of a Baja California senator ignored coronavirus measures to throw a beach party this week.
Ivanna Novelo Müller, daughter of Morena party Senator Gerardo Novelo Osuna, is expecting a baby in October and decided to throw an elaborate gender reveal party in one of the hardest-hit states in Mexico.
Novelo, her husband and around 40 guests, including friends, business owners and young children, gathered on the shore in front of her family’s Estero Beach Hotel in Ensenada. The parents-to-be posed excitedly in front of large white letters spelling out BABY, as friends, many not wearing face masks, hugged and snapped photos of the couple.
At one point during the two-hour event, a helicopter flew over and released pink powder into the sea and sent pink confetti fluttering down upon the assembled crowd, indicating Novelo is expecting a girl.
Video of the event went viral on social media, and criticism was rampant. Novelo removed the video from her social media accounts almost immediately, but it had already been widely circulated.
Senator Novelo, who was not in attendance, has been a vocal advocate for stay-at-home orders, and in a two-page statement criticized his daughter’s decision to host a party in the middle of a pandemic.
“In the face of health crises, you should always act prudently and in this case, that was not so,” he wrote in the statement posted to Twitter.
“Individually, I can only offer an apology to citizens, because although my daughter and her partner are old enough to make their own decisions, this time they made the wrong decision,” Novelo Osuna said Wednesday. “It seems to me that a celebration of that magnitude should not have taken place at this time.”
Ivanna’s brother Gerardo Novelo Müller, who does not appear to share his father’s disapproval, was clearly irritated by criticism of his sister.
“It was something that did not last even two hours, it was fewer than 35 people, the confetti is biodegradable, the powder that was thrown from the helicopter is also. Mini-private event, private property,” he insisted.
“You are more likely to be infected by going to an Oxxo or a supermarket. I also have no doubt that your own houses will become more infected,” he wrote, finishing the post with “Don’t be jealous.”
As of May 7, Baja California had 2,097 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and had seen 326 deaths.
