Barack Obama's 60th Birthday Party On Martha's Vineyard This Weekend To Have COVID Safety Coordinator
(CNN) -- Former President Barack Obama will celebrate his 60th birthday this weekend with a party in Martha's Vineyard, with many Covid-19 safety protocols in place amid heightened concerns over the Delta variant, a source familiar with the planning told CNN.
The event on Friday, which will be held outside, will follow all US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention public health protocols, the source said. There will be testing for guests and a Covid safety coordinator on site.
Martha's Vineyard, in Dukes County, is currently designated by the CDC as an area of "moderate" Covid-19 community spread.
The CDC has only recommended mask wearing indoors for areas of "high" and "substantial" transmission, which includes nearly two-thirds of all US counties.
Obama's birthday is Wednesday, August 4. The Hill was first to report on the former President's big birthday bash.
The Obamas had vacationed on Martha's Vineyard for almost every year of Obama's presidency. The former first family in 2019 reportedly bought a 29-acre property on the island that was listed for nearly $12 million.
Massachusetts has a high vaccination rate. But this July Fourth holiday, Provincetown was the site of a large outbreak of breakthrough cases of Covid-19 among vaccinated people, prompting the CDC to change its face mask recommendations.
Dr. Francis Collins, the Director of the National Institute of Health, told CNN's Jake Tapper on Sunday that it is "best to mask" in a large group where you don't know other people's vaccination status.
"Maybe there are some immunocompromised people there, who though they are vaccinated, are not fully protected, the dynamic changes. There will be need for common sense there," he said.
In lieu of gifts for the former President, guests are being asked to consider giving to programs that work to support boys and young men of color and their families in the United States, empower adolescent girls around the world, and equip the next generation of emerging community leaders including the My Brother's Keeper Alliance, the Girls Opportunity Alliance, or the Obama Foundation's Global Leadership programs, the source added.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2021 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved.