Man Dies After Attending COVID Party
A 30-year-old Texas man died after attending a “COVID party”. He contracted the virus from an infected person at the gathering. (1)
The man died at Methodist Hospital in San Antonio. According to Dr. Jane Appleby, the chief medical officer at the hospital, the COVID party was meant to test whether or not the virus is real. Partygoers knowingly attended with an infected person. Dr. Appleby did not provide information on when or where the party happened and did not publicly name the man who contracted COVID-19 and died. (1)
Dr. Appleby also shared that the man had told his nurse about the COVID party. He said to his nurse, “I think I made a mistake. I thought this was a hoax, but it’s not.” (1)
COVID-19 Cases Surge in U.S.
The United States hit a record-breaking 68,000 new cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, on Friday, June 10, 2020. Despite the fact that cases are surging across the U.S., the COVID party the man described is not the only one that has taken place. (1)
Reports of COVID parties held by students at the University of Alabama indicate that they placed bets on who would get sick the fastest. Whoever got sick first would be declared the “winner” and would take home the money. The university responded by warning students of the risks of parties of this nature. (1)
A California man also died from attending a party. It wasn’t held as a COVID party, but the attendees did not wear masks. A person infected with COVID-19 came to the gathering and spread the virus to the man who died. (1)
From reports about these parties, it seems that people attend them for one of two reasons. The first is to test whether or not the virus is real. The second is to expose themselves to COVID-19 to try to gain immunity. (1)
This is not the first time people have held gatherings to attempt to attain immunity from a disease. Before the development of the chickenpox vaccine, some parents held chickenpox parties. They believed that it was more dangerous to get chickenpox as an adult, so they exposed their children to another child with chickenpox so they would be immune. (1)
However, COVID-19 behaves very differently than chickenpox. And so far, contracting and surviving the virus once has not given people immunity to it. They can still be reinfected. (1)
Unnecessary Risks with Unknown Consequences
Dr. Greta Bauer, a professor of epidemiology and biostatistics, wrote an op-ed for the New York Times urging people not to intentionally infect themselves with COVID-19. She warned that even young people who contract the virus can face hospitalization, long-term health issues, and death. (2)
“It is important that we don’t take unnecessary risks with unknown consequences,” Dr. Bauer wrote. “If we can avoid infection, we need to do exactly that.” (2)
Dr. Robert Glatter, an emergency physician at Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan, called COVID Parties “dangerous, irresponsible, and potentially deadly.” He told the New York Times, “Attending such a party may be a path to an early demise, if not chronic and unrelenting fatigue, chest pain, difficulty breathing, and daily fevers, if you do survive.” (1)
