Yosemite National Park’s famous Ahwahnee Hotel is under fire for reportedly hosting a massive indoor Thanksgiving dinner against health recommendations.
Hotel employees told SFGate "the Ahwahnee was fully booked all week and hundreds of guests showed up for the dinner’s multiple seatings indoors from 2-8 p.m." There was apparently no enforcement of the face mask requirement, and social distancing "fell by the wayside" as the bar got very crowded.
Yosemite has no mask requirement, but strongly encourages doing so when inside. At the Ahwahnee, employees are required to wear a face mask.
Guests are not.
"Basically, everyone just did whatever they wanted, as if there was no pandemic," one Ahwahnee roomskeeper told the website. Another, speaking on condition on anonymity, said she called Mariposa County Health and Human Services Agency to report the dinner.
Preparations were reportedly made for 300 to 400 guests.
The lavish menu and event are still posted online.
Hotel staff works for Yosemite Hospitality, a subsidiary of Aramark Management Services. In an email to SFGate, Aramark Corporate Communications Vice President David Freireich said the company was "below the mandates for reduced seating/capacity restrictions that were in place at the time." Freireich added the dinner was served at a touchless buffet with staff working behind plexiglass.
It’s not clear if anyone at the dinner has tested positive for COVID-19.
The reported feast came at a time when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and California Department of Public Health were advising people not to travel or gather in large groups for the Thanksgiving holiday.
Mariposa County, where the park is located, has been under the state’s regional stay-at-home order since early December. The park has moved to daytime-only hours, and campgrounds and hotels have been closed.
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