Party-goers including council candidate Vickie Palladino (front) at the Whitestone Republican Club holiday party on Dec. 9 (Matt Binder/ Twitter)
Dec. 22, 2020 By Allie Griffin
Members of the Whitestone Republican Club ditched masks and social distancing rules at an indoor holiday party earlier this month, video shows.
Party-goers — including Northeast Queens City Council candidate Vickie Palladino — flouted COVID-19 rules when they formed a 15-person conga line at the holiday party on Dec. 9, a video posted to Twitter shows.
Roughly 50 people are shown either dancing or seated at tables at the holiday party. Just a single person can be seen wearing a mask in the video posted by journalist Matt Binder.
the Whitestone Republican Club in NYC apparently held a Christmas party this year without a care in the world about COVID pic.twitter.com/mHzW86d9M7
— Matt Binder (@MattBinder) December 21, 2020
Neither attendees who took to the dance floor to boogie to the Bee Gees or those seated at round tables wore masks, the video shows.
The Republican club hosted the holiday party inside Il Bacco Restaurant in Little Neck. The restaurant made the news this summer when its owners sued Governor Andrew Cuomo over his shutdown of indoor dining.
Indoor dining was permitted in New York City — at 25 percent capacity — at the time of the holiday party on Dec. 9.
The maskless conga line doesn’t appear to be a one-off during the party. Other photos and videos of the gathering posted to social media also show attendees failing to wear masks that help prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Palladino, who led the conga line, is running to replace Council Member Paul Vallone, who is term-limited.
Neither Palladino or the Whitestone Republican Club returned a request for comment by the time of publication.
The video posted to Twitter has more than two million views.
