Another day, another COVID holiday party story.
After Latham held a holiday gathering that ended with at least 10 COVID cases, the firm went ahead and canceled all of its remaining parties. Kirkland made the tough call to pull the plug on its holiday shindig to avoid the risk of an outbreak. Vaccines work, but they can’t reduce the risk of spread to zero and holiday parties are prime vectors.
As the Manhattan DA’s office is finding out. After a throwing an off-site holiday bash, the office has itself an outbreak. From the NY Post:
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“Unfortunately, over the last few days our [District Attorney New York] family has experienced a material uptick in COVID cases among our staff members mainly stemming from attendance at an offsite holiday party,” Administrative Assistant District Attorney Bonnie Sard said in an email to staffers Tuesday.
While only one prosecutor has filed papers acknowledging a positive test, the office notes that “This has caused significant shortages, disruptions to the department’s practice, and other challenges,” which certainly sounds like it’s more than a stray prosecutor or two.
Again, holiday parties are great and if folks are vaccinated, they should feel free to attend them. But they’re risky even for the immunized so no one should feel like they have to attend, which is why firms should consider canceling so people don’t feel a passive-aggressive pressure to attend.
Whatever folks do, stay safe out there.
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Manhattan DA unit in quarantine after holiday party causes COVID outbreak [NY Post]
Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.