- President Trump is still hosting his annual New Year’s Eve party at the Mar-A-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
- A longtime member of Mar-A-Lago told CNN this week that at least 500 reservations have been confirmed so far.
- The luxurious holiday party is a tradition of the Trump family, for which high-profile guests have already paid thousands to attend.
- It is not clear whether any guidance for the coronavirus will be implemented.
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President Trump plans to end the year in style, as preparations for his annual New Year’s Eve gala at Florida’s Mar-A-Lago resort are underway.
The luxurious black-tie event, where attendees reportedly paid $ 1,000 per ticket in 2019, is a tradition of the Trump family dating back to 2000.
Although there is no confirmed number of guests attending this year’s holiday party, a longtime member of Mar-A-Lago told CNN on Tuesday that at least 500 reservations have been made so far.
It is unclear whether the guidelines for the coronavirus will be in place or whether guests will follow them.
The New Year’s Eve party was attended by the president’s family, celebrities and Republican bigwigs, including Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani.
In 2018, the president was unable to attend due to the government shutdown, however, First Lady Melania Trump kept the show without her husband.
The president spent the 2020 holiday traveling between the White House and his newly renovated luxury residence in Palm Beach, mostly playing golf and tweeting about stimulus checks.
Despite the ongoing pandemic, activities at the Mar-a-Lago resort appear to be in full swing, with a member telling CNN that the beach club area next to the pool is so crowded that guests are discussing available chairs .
“People are going to have dinner as usual,” said the source, who added that there appears to be “little regard for the pandemic,” according to CNN.
The New Year’s Eve party will come as coronavirus cases and deaths continue to rise across the country.
More than 19.5 million people have contracted the coronavirus in the United States to date. Nearly 340,000 died from it, according to a Johns Hopkins University tracker.
On Tuesday, Florida reported more than 12,000 cases of coronavirus and 105 virus-related deaths, according to the Florida Department of Health.
Dr. Anthony Fauci warned this week that the country is at a critical juncture and that the worst is yet to come.
“We can very well see a post-seasonal wave – in the sense of Christmas, New Year – and, as I described, like wave after wave,” Fauci told CNN.