As countries entered into lockdown to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus and the death toll crossed 17,000 globally, Twitter reminded New York City's Mayor, Bill de Blasio of the time he had encouraged people to "get out on the town".
This was not very long ago. The tweets, posted on his verified handle were from March 3.
He even had a suggestion for where one could go -- naturally a public, often crowded place that would very easily allow you to catch the virus. And keeping in mind that many remain asymptomatic, and could spread the virus far and wide without even realising, this could also be construed as being an extremely problematic statement. Not to mention, against the directives given by the World Health Organisation.
Well, to quote one Twitter user, the post "didn't age well". Now, as America grapples with the deadly virus, many were quick to bring up the earlier post. But before we get to that, let us look at some numbers. As of Tuesday evening, the US had recorded 46,805 positive cases of the novel coronavirus. And New York City has nearly 23,250 cases as well as 125 deaths linked to the virus.
"20 days ago. Now he wants the US military to come in and occupy New York City," wrote one user on March 23rd.
"Blame blame blame others. Bill De Blasio things written on the internet are forever. What's happening in NYC is your fault, you encouraged people to go out, not taking the coronavirus seriously. Now its spreading like wildfire because you didn't take it seriously and blamed others," wrote another user.
"New York has 23,000 cases now... Any other movie recommendations Mr Mayor? In for a penny, in for a pound, might as well get entire New York infected..." wondered a third.
Take a look:
