Biden-Harris Inauguration: North Bay Rep. Jared Huffman Not Providing Tickets Due To COVID-19 Pandemic
WASHINGTON (CBS SF) – With COVID-19 cases continuing to rise nationwide, a Bay Area lawmaker said he would not offer in-person event tickets for the upcoming inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.
"I know that President-elect Biden's team is working hard to figure out how to hold transition events safely, but with coronavirus cases surging across the country, including in California, and with the associated risks of travel, I firmly believe it would be unsafe and irresponsible for me to facilitate non-essential travel to the nation's capital for public gatherings," Rep. Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael) said in a statement on Thursday.
Huffman went on to say that his own family would not be in attendance for the events at the U.S. Capitol next month.
The representative's announcement comes on the heels of one of the deadliest days of the pandemic in the United States. On Wednesday, the single-day death toll from COVID-19 topped 3,000 for the first time. Nearly 300,000 Americans have died from the coronavirus and nearly 15 million have been infected in the U.S. according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
Earlier this week, Biden Inaugural Committee chair Rep. James Clyburn (D-South Carolina) told CNN that "75% to 80%" of the inauguration festivities would be virtual. Clyburn hopes that with the virus under control with a vaccine, a larger celebration could take place around the July 4 holiday.
Huffman said he would continue to take ticket requests for any inauguration-related virtual event opportunities.
Per the U.S. Constitution, Biden and Harris are scheduled to be sworn in around 9 a.m. Pacific Time on January 20, 2021.