Hours before New York State’s order limiting private gatherings took effect on Friday, effectively barring large holiday parties, an upstate sheriff said that he would not enforce it. His office, he said, would never interfere with “the great tradition of Thanksgiving dinner.”

Days later, a sheriff in the Southern Tier region vowed that his deputies would not go “peeking in your window” to count the faces around a table. A third New York sheriff said that entering residents’ homes “to see how many Turkey or Tofu eaters are present is not a priority.”

Even as the daily numbers of new coronavirus cases climb and threaten the state’s progress toward tamping down the spread of infection, a growing number of local sheriffs and other officials say they will not enforce the state’s 10-person cap on gatherings at family homes.

Much of the opposition has come from conservative regions outside New York City, but the reluctance to police Thanksgiving feasts has not been limited to upstate areas or to Republicans. In New York City, officials said they did not anticipate strict enforcement, citing other priorities. And at least one Democratic sheriff upstate said he would not have the resources necessary to do the job.

Source: New York Times

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