She’s a mom on the run!
Manhattan-based mother of five and influencer Naomi Davis has sparked outrage by quitting New York City in the midst of a pandemic to embark on a cross-country road trip with her hubby and kids in an RV, according to BuzzFeed News.
Davis, a blogger at her Love Taza site with 465,000 Instagram followers, announced on Saturday that she was leaving the Upper West Side so “we can have a little more space” during the coronavirus quarantine.
Her decision to leave the city, which has been under lockdown per orders from government officials and experts, has angered many of her followers for ignoring public-health guidelines.
“Absolutely wrong thing to do,” one wrote. Another chimed in with: “This is insane! You are potentially spreading the virus to other areas.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a domestic travel advisory Saturday for New York, New Jersey and Connecticut residents, asking them to “refrain from non-essential domestic travel for 14 days, effective immediately.” Many states are even monitoring New Yorkers who have fled the state, including Rhode Island and Florida.
In her weekend Instagram post, the mom featured a photograph of the RV in which she and husband Josh were escaping with their little ones. She said they bade farewell to the Upper West Side on Friday night.
“While we’ve been diligent about self-quarantining and social distancing in New York City, we want to make sure we will stay away from others during our trip (even though no one in our family has symptoms, you could always be asymptomatic),” wrote Davis. “For this reason, we decided to rent an RV in order to avoid hotels and people and just eat and sleep in the RV on the way.”
She concluded: “Hopefully, a little change of scenery will be just what we need — for everyone’s physical health, for my headspace which is spiraling lately — and for our kids’ own mental health.”
While many of the comments on the Instagram post were hard-hitting but polite, the Twitterverse showed less mercy.
A user named LienOnMe tweeted: “This is dangerous, reckless behavior. Please don’t be so concerned about yourself that you forget you are *more* likely to cause harm to others.”
“It takes some egregiously insufferable influencer privilege to dramatically flounce from the epicenter during an international health emergency. Wouldn’t you say so @lovetaza. Naomi Davis should have been canceled long ago,” @SnarkyAbby chimed in.
Meanwhile, another Twitter user tagged New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo in their post in order to snitch on Davis’ rogue actions. “@andrewcuomo Is this even allowed right now?!!,” asked @MandaMarae. “These people should be fined for their adventure.”
A public-health expert contacted by BuzzFeed News called the Davises’ plan “highly irresponsible” and “not safe at all.”
Lawrence Gostin, a professor of global health law at Georgetown University, said people in New York City should listen to authorities and not make individual judgment calls on what is or isn’t safe.
“On its face, if everyone gets to decide what is safe, then we will just have chaos,” he said.
He was particularly concerned about the family infecting people they meet throughout their journey, especially when they need to stop for gas or food.
“The only place you can literally separate yourself from society is at home,” he told BuzzFeed.
His point of view was echoed by Dr. Drew Harris, a researcher and assistant professor at the Thomas Jefferson University College of Population Health.
“We assume the virus will continue to circulate for months, so how long do they intend to stay away?” he wondered. “The only safe time to return will be after a vaccine is available, which is a year or more away.”
Davis did, however, receive some support on Love Taza’s Instagram page. One user wrote: “I think you are totally doing the right thing for your family and NYC. Less people in the city will allow the virus to slow and disappear.”
Both BuzzFeed News and The Post attempted to contact the runaway blogger — who has been uncharacteristically quiet on social media since the avalanche of complaints — but to no avail.
Davis isn’t the only blogger to up sticks on New York in the middle of lockdown. Blogger Arielle Charnas of Something Navy, who was lambasted for using connections to score a COVID-19 test, has fled to the Hamptons with her family despite being diagnosed with the coronavirus.