The vast majority of people in the United States are doing everything they can to avoid contracting the virus which has rapidly spread in recent weeks, re-shuttering businesses and straining hospital ICUs.
In Alabama, however, there is reportedly a group of students who threw caution to the wind and are holding "pandemic parties" with a special prize for the first person who becomes infected.
Alabama students attend 'COVID-19 parties,' gamble on who gets sick first https://t.co/9eBhM28foj https://t.co/XSkiVSMjsQ— New York Post (@New York Post)1593669472.0
Against the advice of every health official in the public eye, these students in Alabama seem to think the virus is no cause for concern.
Several college students continued to attend parties in Alabama after testing positive for COVID-19, despite the 14… https://t.co/Dvb41dPxj4— HuffPost (@HuffPost)1593708060.0
Some young people in Alabama are throwing Covid-19 parties, a disturbing competition where people who have coronavi… https://t.co/7Th3eQg2Wk— CNN International (@CNN International)1593691807.0
Officials are understandably unhappy about these parties.
"It makes me mad as hell," Tuscaloosa Councilwoman Sonya McKinstry said after learning area students are purposely… https://t.co/N6BFXuACiR— Sarah Killian (@Sarah Killian)1593682919.0
Alabama state officials confirm that a group of college students took bets on and intentionally spread COVID-19, an… https://t.co/mnujkL3CIH— Good Morning America (@Good Morning America)1593689742.0
The young people attending these parties are displaying a shocking level of recklessness.
Ummm... Alabama college students threw ‘COVID parties’ — put money in a pot, and offered cash prizes to see who’d g… https://t.co/7hnx0VImns— Eric Feigl-Ding (@Eric Feigl-Ding)1593693816.0
EU: “No Americans.” USA: “Why not?!? Rude!” Also USA: https://t.co/DYJrHn1tsi— Alicia Marie #MKKollective (@Alicia Marie #MKKollective)1593647367.0
College can’t cure stupid Alabama students throwing 'COVID parties' to see who gets infected: Officials - ABC New… https://t.co/MQY7FIwVFR— Kathryn Watson (@Kathryn Watson)1593646944.0
Others on Twitter called pandemic parties just another Tide pod style story where isolated incidents are portrayed as widespread issues.
1. OK, I'm calling bs on "news" of "COVID parties"—college students TRYING to get COVID. It has all the failure hal… https://t.co/GKpPJntryU— Dr. Thrasher (@Dr. Thrasher)1593701734.0
13. This story engages in confirmation bias—it advances the narrative that COVID is being spread by wild, unruly, s… https://t.co/Ed5jq3xntW— Dr. Thrasher (@Dr. Thrasher)1593703312.0
These parties, while actually happening, are likely isolated incidents that don't represent how most young people in Alabama act.
A bad thing that our media does is finding an isolated example of weird behavior and then saying "some people are..… https://t.co/dQBDPHVWJB— Allison Kilkenny (@Allison Kilkenny)1593706336.0
do i believe this is real? yes. Is it a trend among young people in Alabama? Probs not. But this headline makes it… https://t.co/yGjMyUmuCP— Allison Kilkenny (@Allison Kilkenny)1593706472.0
But isolated incident or not, these are a dangerous game to play as some healthy young people have also died from the virus.
Meanwhile, the Alabama state government continues to try and cope with the rapidly expanding number of virus cases flooding their healthcare system.
Gov. Kay Ivey Tuesday extended a Safer at Home order to July 31 but made no major changes to Alabama’s COVID-19 app… https://t.co/OIZVeunctT— Brian Lyman (@Brian Lyman)1593604858.0
Alabama Health Officer Scott Harris says a statewide mask ordinance is not likely to happen because it would be har… https://t.co/bod0ajADKk— WBHM 90.3 FM (@WBHM 90.3 FM)1593697687.0
The Alabama Department of Public Health rolled out a new color-coded COVID-19 map. Each of the counties are colored… https://t.co/QJUFkP2cOJ— NBC 15 News (@NBC 15 News)1593558900.0
For the safety of yourself and your loved ones, remember to avoid large social gatherings like parties, especially if they're held indoors.