Former New York Covid adviser fired after video reveals he partied during pandemic

The in-charge of New York City’s Covid pandemic and Vice President of a New York based private firm has been fired from his position after a hidden-camera video showed him talking about attending a sex party along with other gatherings in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.

Dr Jay Varma was terminated from his position as executive vice president and chief medical officer at SIGA Technologies last Monday, the New York-based pharmaceutical company disclosed in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. He also serves as a faculty member at the Cornell University.

When the city was promoting social distancing, Varma along with his wife organised a private sex party at a hotel in the August of 2020 for their group of friends. “It was like all of my friends but the hotels didn’t want people gathering… so I had everyone tested before and show it to me. It was like 10-12 people,” said Varma in the video that was posted on Thursday by conservative podcaster Steven Crowder for Mug Club Undercover on his YouTube channel.

Varma, who served as a senior public health adviser to then New York Mayor Bill de Blasio from April 2020 to May 2021, also claimed in the sting operation that he was called from Ethiopia to cater to New York’s pandemic response.

While Varma admitted to the disastrous repercussions if he had been caught at that time  he also said he was not afraid while violating Covid -19  mandates. Varma also disclosed being naked with his friend group and consuming the recreational drug molly, also called ‘ecstasy’.

“I did all this deviant, sexual stuff while I was on TV and people were like, ‘Aren’t you afraid? Aren’t you embarrassed?’” Varma said in the edited recording. “And I was like, no, I really like being my authentic self,” said Varma boasting about his actions in the video.

“It would have been a big deal,” he said at another point in the video. “It would have been a real embarrassment.”

Sections of the compiled YouTube video also show his television appearances with the Democratic mayor at press briefings to discuss the city’s Covid-19 situation and strategize to combat the deadly virus. He can be seen encouraging people to wear masks in public, get tested regularly and get vaccinated, once vaccines were available.

Varma declined Tuesday to comment on his firing, but acknowledged the authenticity of the video in a statement provided by a spokesperson.

“I take responsibility for not using the best judgment at the time,” he wrote, adding that the recordings were from private conversations that had been “secretly recorded, spliced, diced, and taken out of context”.

Varma, talking to a female undercover MCU journalist, acknowledged attending at least three private gatherings during his City Hall tenure as the flag bearer of the Covid vaccine mandate.

Along with this, at the peak of the pandemic, he also happened to attend a drug fuelled rave party, with a gathering of around 200 people in an underground space at the Wall Street bank in May or June of 2021, the recording revealed.

According to AP, in mid-May, New York state had raised the limit on indoor gatherings to 250 people and by mid-June, it had lifted most pandemic restrictions.

Varma’s revelations come after a similar instance of former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s attending parties in government along with other administrators in violation with the Covid-19 lockdown rules that called for his resignation in 2023 following a government inquiry.

Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom too faced criticism for flouting his own pandemic rules when he attended a friend’s birthday party at the swanky French Laundry restaurant in Napa Valley in November 2020, AP reported.

When contacted by the news agency, the spokesperson for SIGA Technologies didn’t respond to emails seeking comment.

Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat, declined to wade into the controversy Tuesday during his regular City Hall briefing with reporters while some local conservatives called for a government inquiry.

“The hypocrisy is outrageous,” said City Council Member Robert Holden, a Queens Democrat, who applauded Varma’s firing. “Millions were impacted by their heavy-handed policies, and the public deserves accountability.”