Why did the New York Times glorify a superspreader event?

It’s not just Republican elected officials sending the public the message that we might as well give up:

The most recent New York Times Vows column has a plot — and a headline — right out of “Fleabag.”

Woman and priest meet.

Priest cannot pursue woman because he is a priest.

Priest begins to question his life choices.

But then, the Times article — She Married the Priest — diverges from the popular British tragicomedy: Catholic priest Jonathan Morris, who is also a Fox News analyst, abandons the cloth and marries ABC News investigative producer Kaitlyn Folmer. It’s pure wish fulfillment for “Fleabag” fans — and a tale of romance for those who haven’t seen the show.

And then you reach the third photo.

There are maskless people standing shoulder-to-shoulder inside St. Patrick’s Cathedral, craning over each other to snap a picture of the bride as she walks down the aisle. The article later notes — in the 41st of its 44 paragraphs — that there were approximately 200 guests in the cathedral that day. (It is also mentioned in a caption higher up.) And while the writer says that all guests were “socially distanced,” the photos tell a different story.

The wedding was held on Oct. 17, as coronavirus cases were beginning to spike again in New York City and almost everywhere else. When the article was published online on Friday, the United States was on the precipice of its worst coronavirus surge yet.

There is no safe way of doing maskless indoor gatherings of people who don’t live together and/or aren’t being tested routinely, and every story that suggests otherwise is doing real harm. And, again, the apparent imminence of a vaccine makes the widespread decision over the summer to just give up even worse than it would be otherwise.