Tuscaloosa city officials have reported that students have allegedly been throwing COVID parties and betting to see who contracts the virus first. But just how real is this narrative that the press keeps pushing forward?
As the number of confirmed COVID cases are on a high worldwide, news came out last week that college students in Tuscaloosa have been throwing parties and inviting guests with positive COVID tests, and then betting to see who gets infected first.
Tuscaloosa City Councilor Sonya McKinstry stated “They put money in a pot and they try to get COVID. Whoever gets COVID first receives the pot. It makes no sense, they’re intentionally doing it.
But it’s not clear whether McKinstry had a source for this claim to suggest the parties are happening intending to infect others.
McKinstry said she fears that some people will attend the parties not knowing their intent and be exposed to infected guests.
On June 30th, Tuscaloosa fire chief Randy Smith stated during a City Council briefing that his department had heard about parties “where students or kids would come in with known positives.” It sounded like just a rumor, Smith said, but “not only did the doctors’ offices help confirm it, but the state also confirmed they had the same information.”
The Alabama Department of Health has responded to WIRED with a statement that it “has not been able to verify such parties have taken place.”
ABC also reported, that at least eight new confirmed COVID cases in Rockland County, New York, have been allegedly linked to a house party in a suburb of New York City. Officials have stated that some guests at the party are not cooperating with contact tracers.
It’s impossible to rule out the possibility that specific individuals are intentionally throwing parties to spread the virus. Nothing is impossible, after all.
Regardless of whether COVID parties are being hosted to spread the virus, the fact is that people are still getting infected in these parties. Read here how you can best be safe during the pandemic.
