Public figures and politicans create new holiday 'Cringemas' with Santa COVID jokes

Public figures and politicians created some cringe worthy moments this holiday season by trying to reassure kids and parents that Santa Claus would be coming to town. It began last week with Dr. Anthony Fauci announcing that he had gone up to the North Pole in order to personally vaccinate St. Nick so that he would be "…good to go" for delivering presents.

It is not clear if Fauci gave Father Christmas the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine. The assumption is that it was the Pfizer vaccine, since it was the only one approved for distribution in the US at the time. Fauci did not say if he vaccinated Mrs. Claus or any of the elves. This is concerning because after being in so many homes, Santa could bring the virus back to them and start a super spreader event in the North Pole, which remains one of the few places left on the planet that has not yet had any cases of the virus.

Not to be outdone Governor Gavin Newsom tweeted a video discussing granting permits for reindeer to enter California. This irked some business owners that Newsom threatened to take away their business permits for operating.

In a press statement Claus said he was looking forward to having dinner with Newsom at the French Laundry restaurant when he comes through the state.

New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy designated Claus an essential worker, allowing him to bypass the state's quarantine rules.

"Therefore, what that means boys and girls, he will be allowed to fly on and around New Jersey with his elves and reindeer with unlimited access Christmas Eve and into the wee hours of Christmas morning," said Murphy in a video posted to Twitter.

This move irked many who questioned if Santa's role in the holiday should be considered essential travel and why the elves needed to join him. Many suggested that he ship packages this year through Amazon to cut down on travel and contact, while others suggested he should buy the presents locally to support small businesses which have been decimated by lockdowns and restrictions. Still others wondered why Santa was considered essential, while they were not and currently still unemployed due to the pandemic. Some even wondered how much money Santa and the elves had gotten from the PPP program to still be able to operate through the year.

Perhaps the most awkward was New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who joked that Santa Claus would be good to him this year because of his hard work in 2020.

"Santa’s going to be very good to me this year, I can tell," Cuomo said during his Monday briefing, "I worked hard this year."

Cuomo made the comment after saying that he had granted a "quarantine waiver" for Santa, but noted that Kris Kringle is required to wear a mask while delivering gifts this year. The man in the red suit is not required to quarantine for 14 days upon entering the state even though he is visiting the home of every Christian child in the world, some of which are no doubt infected with the virus. Santa will be making his usual stops in the UK and Europe despite the mutated version of the virus, leaving many to question Cuomo’s waiver.

Santa may also be missing a few faces from his past who are no longer with us. Dr. Kevin Pham from the Heritage Foundation implied that Cuomo may end up with quite a bit of coal in his stocking this year when he said "…policymakers deserve a tremendous amount of grace for making mistakes in the early pandemic response," Cuomo’s decision to force nursing homes to admit COVID-19 patients was "inexcusable," given the knowledge that the virus was "particularly deadly" for the elderly. Which makes one wonder if Cuomo is putting the elderly at risk again by granting a waiver for Santa, who is approximately 1,749 years old, to enter stranger’s homes, especially with children around.

This does beg the question, if special dispensation is given to Santa, does this mean that indoor dining restrictions are lifted for milk and cookies? Perhaps this is a sign that people are no longer required to isolate just with people from their own household.