Austin Mayor tells community to stay home while in Cabo after flying there in private jet

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Austin Mayor Steve Adler recorded a video of himself urging the public to “stay home if you can” while he vacationed in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. 

"Stay home if you can ... this is not the time to relax,” Adler said in the clip posted to Facebook. 

Adler did not disclose he was at a timeshare after flying on a private jet with eight guests, including immediate and extended family. 

The Mexico trip was one day after Adler hosted a wedding with 20 guests for his daughter at a boutique hotel in Austin.

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 At the time, Austin was under a Stage 3 advisory, recommending no more than 10 people gather. Adler said he’d consulted with Dr. Mark Escott, Austin’s top health authority, and held the wedding outdoors. He said that guests had to get a COVID-19 test prior to attending. 

Several wedding attendees flew to Austin from across the U.S., including the Seattle-based photographer, according to KVUE. 

"It's not perfect,” Adler said this week. “Obviously there are infections that could happen. But what we did was stay compliant with the rules." 

The following day, eight of the wedding attendees flew to Cabo. 

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Though the positivity rate was below 4 percent when Adler left for his trip, the week after he returned the city raised its threat level to Stage 4, recommending against travel and gathering with people outside of your household.

One day after Adler embarked on his vacation, Dr. Esper issued a warning: “If you are going to go out to a restaurant, go out with your family, the people who live in your household, not the family or friends who don’t live in your household. And start to decrease those travels outside of your home that are not necessary.”

Adler said in a statement of his trip: “We were in a lower risk ‘Yellow’ level than now. It is always safest to stay home. However, we aren’t asking people never to venture out. We ask everyone to be as safe as possible in what they do. My family and I are no exception and we’ll continue to do as I ask of our community.”

Last week Texas Judge Bill Gravell paid a $1,000 fine for violating his own coronavirus stay-at-home order to attend his grandson’s birthday party in April. 

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A complaint said Gravell had used city resources to do so, wearing firefighter gear and having a Williamson County Sheriff's Office deputy drive him.