COVID-19 Positive George Stephanopoulos Awarded Donkey Of The Day For Ignoring Mask Mandate

Synwpt2ul

George Stephanopoulos had already irked Hamptons residents by going out in public after his wife contracted COVID-19 — but now the “Good Morning America” anchor is battling the virus himself and is ignoring mandates to wear a mask in public.

The pale-looking ABC newsman was spotted by The Post on Monday afternoon taking a stroll in East Hampton, engrossed in a long conversation on his mobile phone with a mask hanging around his neck.

One outraged witness said Stephanopoulos — who announced he tested positive for the virus last week after his wife, Ali Wentworth, contracted it — was seen leaving his Hamptons home in a pair of shorts and walking for about a mile along East Hampton lanes, with his mask down the entire time.

The witness said, “For somebody who reports on the pandemic every day, and is broadcasting guidelines about safe social distancing, George didn’t really seem to care.

“He was on his own, walking through the lanes and past East Hampton Guild Hall, on his cellphone the whole time, yakking with his mask around his neck.

“He tested positive, his wife tested positive, why can’t he follow the local mandates to wear a mask in public, why can’t he just stay home?”

According to the town of East Hampton website, a mandate for people to wear masks in public was already in place when Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s executive order saying everyone must wear a face covering went into effect on April 17.

Stephanopoulos, 59, has already been accused by a hacked-off neighbor in the Hamptons of not appropriately following social distancing guidelines.

He was spotted visiting a local drugstore on April 10 and then walking his dog on a private golf course prior to his COVID-19 diagnosis, according to the neighbor, Carrie Doyle.

She wrote in a since-deleted Facebook message, “If you know someone’s wife has corona and the wife has been very very sick with it, do you think that the husband should be out at pharmacies picking up prescriptions when the pharmacy delivers and does curbside pickup?”

He was seen at White’s Apothecary in East Hampton wearing a mask and gloves, even though the pharmacy has been offering to deliver medications to protect its staff.

“I was staying home, I was self-monitoring, I never had a temperature, and I never had any of the classic symptoms,” Stephanopoulos told the New York Times about his visit. “I was wearing a mask and gloves in White’s.”

The next day, April 11, he was tested at an urgent care facility in Bridgehampton, and then walked on a golf course near his home.

“I was carrying a mask,” Stephanopoulos said. “I was nowhere near any people.” He then learned he had tested positive and announced his diagnosis on April 13, nearly two weeks after his wife was diagnosed.

Announcing his diagnosis on “GMA,” he said he has been “basically asymptomatic,” unlike Wentworth, who previously described her condition as “pure misery.”

A spokesperson for Stephanopoulos and “GMA” didn’t immediately get back to us.

[via Page Six]