In an unfortunate incident, a 30-year-old man who believed the coronavirus was a hoax died after being infected with the virus at a ‘Covid-19 party’. Despite the virus killing more than 135,000 people in the United States so far, the man thought the virus was a hoax and attended the party with an infected person and later died in Methodist Hospital in San Antonio.
Someone will be diagnosed with the disease, and they’ll have a party to invite their friends over to see if they can beat the disease,” Dr Jane Appleby, chief medical officer at the Methodist Hospital in San Antonio said, as reported by AFP.
One of the things that were heart-wrenching that he said to his nurse was, ‘You know, I think I made a mistake.’ And this young man went to a COVID party,” Dr Jane added in a video broadcast by US media on Sunday.
She further mentioned how young people don’t realise how sick they are and urged them to take the risks seriously and wear masks.
He didn’t really believe. He thought the disease was a hoax. He thought he was young and he was invincible and wouldn’t get affected by the disease,” Appleby told KSAT.
Notably, such parties are hosted mostly by youngsters to test if the virus really exists and intentionally expose people to the coronavirus to build immunity. Last week, there were reports claiming that several college students in an Alabama city organised “Covid-19” parties as a contest to see who would get the virus first.
As per a CNN report, many Americans believe that it is better to get infected with the virus and get it over with to faster reach herd immunity. However, the logic is flawed as herd immunity best comes from a vaccine. More so, even if one develops immunity, it might not last forever and could wane over time. Experts have warned against following the trend and said more and more Covid-19 cases would overburden health system and hospitals, resulting in more deaths.
The virus has killed more than 135,000 people in the US and more than half a million worldwide, according to Johns Hopkins University.
