Former NYC Covid czar attended sex parties while shaping pandemic guidelines

A health official who helped lead New York City through the Covid-19 pandemic admitted to attending sex parties during lockdown, flouting the social distancing guidelines that he touted.

Dr Jay Varma, the senior public health adviser from April 2020 to May 2021 to then-Mayor Bill de Blasio, was privately partying while he was publicly promoting vaccine and mask mandates, social distancing rules, and restrictions on gathering sizes. The epidemiologist acknowledged breaking his own rules in a video released by conservative podcaster Steven Crowder on Thursday.

In a montage of recordings, Varma speaks about going to a “dance party” underneath a Wall Street bank while high on MDMA with 200 people as well as hosting a party with his wife at a hotel with eight to 10 others.

“The only way I could do this job for the city was if I had some way to blow off steam every now and then,” he is heard saying in one clip.

The recordings, which were taken in summer 2024, capture Varma acknowledging the hypocrisy of serving as the city’s Covid czar while also flouting the guidelines he helped shape. “I did all this deviant sexual stuff while I was on TV,” he says in one clip. He recalled when some people asked if he was “afraid” or “embarrassed” at the time, and expressed no remorse, saying: “No, actually I love being my authentic self.”

The Independent has sent an email to two emails linked to Varma for comment.

When asked by the ABC 7 about the video, he did not deny the claims. He clarified to the outlet that he attended two gatherings from August 2020 and May 2021, and said the recordings had been secretly filmed and had been “spliced, diced and taken out of context.”

The city’s schools were closed, indoor dining was prohibited, and