Coronavirus party

A coronavirus party (also called corona party, covid party or lock-down party) is a gathering with the intention of catching COVID-19. The existence of this phenomenon is disputed. Outside the United States, for example in the Netherlands,[1][2][3][4] the term "coronavirus party" or similar may refer to a regular party that is organized to rebel against social distancing rules and laws, without any intention of spreading the virus.

History

Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear reported that young people were taking part in parties and testing positive for COVID-19. "The partygoers intentionally got together 'thinking they were invincible' and purposely defying state guidance to practice social distancing."[5][6] A CNN headline on 25 March 2020 stated "A group of young adults held a coronavirus party in Kentucky to defy orders to socially distance. Now one of them has coronavirus". On the same day NPR published the headline "Kentucky Has 39 New Cases; 1 Person Attended A 'Coronavirus Party'". Both headlines misrepresented the content of the article and the quotes they used from Beshear who did not mention intentional parties for catching COVID-19, but that young people were attending parties and becoming sick with COVID-19.[7]

On 6 May 2020 the Seattle Times reported that Meghan DeBold, director of the Department of Community Health in Walla Walla, Washington, said that contact tracing had revealed people wanting to get sick with COVID-19 and get it over with had attended COVID parties. DeBold is quoted as saying '"We ask about contacts, and there are 25 people because: 'We were at a COVID party'".[8] An opinion piece for The New York Times by epidemiologist Greta Bauer on April 8, 2020 said she had heard "rumblings about people ... hosting a version of 'chickenpox parties'... in an effort to catch the virus".[9] Rolling Stone states that Bauer did not cite "direct evidence of the existence of these parties."[10] The New York Times reported on May 6, 2020 that stories such as the Walla Walla Covid Party "may have been more innocent gatherings" and county health officials retracted their statements.[11]

On June 23, Carsyn Leigh Davis was said to have died from COVID-19 at the age of 17 after her mother took her daughter to a COVID party at her church, despite Carsyn having a history of health issues, including cancer. However, according to the coroner's report, there is no mention of a COVID party, just a church function with 100 children, where she did not wear a mask and where social distancing protocols were not followed. According to David Gorski, writing for Science-Based Medicine, the church party was called a "Release Party" and there is no evidence that the party was a held so that people could intentionally catch COVID-19.[12]

Response

Ultimately, the coronavirus-party story went viral for the same reason that all social distancing-shaming content does: it gives people cooped up in their homes a reason to pat themselves on the back and congratulate themselves for their own sacrifices. There’s also undoubtedly an element of generational animosity at play here: if you believe that young people are all selfish assholes, then you’re more likely to believe that they’re gathering en masse to purposefully infect themselves with a potentially deadly virus.

— E. J. Dickson from Rolling Stone[10]

Some news agencies considered COVID-19 parties to be a myth. Rolling Stone called "shaming people on the internet for not properly socially distancing" the favorite new American pastime. They state that these headlines are meant to be virally shared. Saying that young people attended parties where they caught COVID-19 which is "far more believable ... version of events" than young people attending parties "for the purpose of contracting COVID-19". The Seattle Times article from Walla Walla backtracked the day after publishing their covid party story by stating they may not have been accurate.[10]

Wired reported on supposed college students in Tuscaloosa, Alabama throwing parties with infected guests, then betting on the contagion that ensues. 'They put money in a pot and they try to get Covid,' said City Council member Sonya McKinstry, who was the stories lone source.[12] 'Whoever gets Covid first gets the pot. It makes no sense.'" Wired says that these stories spread like a game of telephone with "loose talk from public officials and disgracefully sloppy journalism". "It is, of course, technically impossible to rule out the existence of Covid parties. Maybe somewhere in this vast and complex nation there are some foolish people getting infected on purpose. It's also possible that the miasma of media coverage will coalesce into a vector of its own, inspiring Covid parties that otherwise would not have happened. But so far there's no hard evidence that even a single one has taken place—just a recurring cycle of breathless, unsubstantiated media coverage."[13]

Investigator Ben Radford researched the claims from the media and states that there is nothing new to these stories, the folklore world has seen stories of people believing that getting inoculation against smallpox may turn people into cows. These stories cycle through social media and include, "'poisoned Halloween candy, suicide-inducing online games, Satanists, caravans of diseased migrants, evil clowns, and many others." Other childhood diseases such as chicken pox and measles in years before vaccines to prevent these illnesses, some parents would hold 'pox parties' which Radford claims are still "often promoted by anti-vaccination groups". "Assuming you have a willing and potentially infectious patient (who's not bedridden or in a hospital)" holding a COVID-19 party would be problematic for many reasons, how do you know the person really has COVID-19 and not the flu? How would you know their viral load? "(T)he whole premise of such parties is dubious."[7]

All the stories reported in the media currently "have all the typical ingredients of unfounded moral panic rumors", according to Radford. Teachers, police, school districts, governors "who publicize the information out of an abundance of caution. Journalists eagerly run with a sensational story, and there's little if any sober or skeptical follow-up".[7] On 10 July 2020 a WOAI-TV station from San Antonio, Texas, ran a story interviewing the Chief Medical Officer of Methodist Healthcare, Dr. Jane Appleby, who according to WOAI said she had heard from someone that a patient told their nurse right before dying that they had attended a covid party in order to see if the virus was real or not, and now they regretted attending the party. Radford writes that this is "classic folklore (a friend-of-a-friend or FOAF) tale presented in news media as fact"... "It's an anonymous third-hand story with nary a verifiable name or claim to be found". Even the 'deathbed conversation' ending to the story is a "classic legend trope".[14]

Radford and co-host Celestia Ward discuss the details of the possibility of COVID-19 parties on the podcast "Squaring the Strange", Ward was dubious about the gambling claims on the stories of the first person to get Covid after the party wins a pot of money. She could not see how you would determine the rules, if someone really wanted to win, "couldn't they just go hang out at bars without a mask for a while? ... How would you know they picked up the virus at the party and not somewhere else? How do you know they didn't already have the virus before coming to the party?" Radford said non-medical people can't tell how much an infected person could be shedding the virus at any specific time, "you might not catch the virus standing next to someone for 15-minutes... but need to do deep-kissing" to make sure you get a good chance of contracting COVID-19.[15]

See also

References
  1. "Coronafeestjes gevolg van gebrek aan kennis over virus" [Corona parties result of a lack of knowledge of the virus]. Hart van Nederland. Talpa TV. 2020-03-29. Jongeren houden nog steeds regelmatig coronafeestjes, ondanks het verbod op groepsvorming en alle andere voorschriften om besmettingen met corona te voorkomen. Psycholoog Bram Bakker denkt niet dat de jongeren moedwillig een risico willen zijn voor bijvoorbeeld opa of oma. “Het is vooral een gebrek aan kennis.”
  2. "Politie grijpt in bij coronafeestje in kleedkamer sportpark Middelburg" [Police intervenes in corona party in changing room of sport facility in Middelburg]. omroepzeeland.nl. 2020-04-05. De politie heeft afgelopen nacht een coronafeestje in Middelburg beëindigd. In een kleedkamer van sportpark de Veerse Poort in Middelburg werd door elf jongens tussen de 17 en 20 jaar oud muziek gedraaid en gezongen over quarantaine.
  3. "Honderd man met bbq betrapt in Arnhem: burgemeester boos op 'groep idioten'" [A hundred people caught with a barbecue in Arnhem: mayor angry with 'bunch of idiots']. RTL Nieuws. RTL Group. 2020-04-05.
  4. svg (2020-04-19). "Politie legt coronafeestje stil waarop zelfs vuurwerk werd afgestoken: "Dit is echt foert zeggen tegen de regels"" [Police ends corona party at which even fireworks were set off: “This is just a big buzz off! to the regulations”]. Het Nieuwsblad.
  5. Waldrop, Theresa; Gallman, Stephanie. "A group of young adults held a coronavirus party in Kentucky to defy orders to socially distance. Now one of them has coronavirus". CNN Health. CNN. Archived from the original on 2020-07-02. Retrieved 2020-07-12.
  6. Scott, Neuman. "Kentucky Has 39 New Cases; 1 Person Attended A 'Coronavirus Party'". npr.org. NPR. Archived from the original on 2020-07-12. Retrieved 2020-07-12.
  7. Radford, Ben. "The Truth About Covid Parties". A Skeptic Reads the Newspaper. Center For Inquiry. Archived from the original on 2020-07-12. Retrieved 2020-07-12.
  8. "'We were at a COVID party': Walla Walla County claims to trace new cases to gatherings of people hoping to get coronavirus". seattletimes.com. The Seattle Times. Archived from the original on 2020-07-12. Retrieved 2020-07-12.
  9. Bauer, Greta. "Please, Don't Intentionally Infect Yourself. Signed, an Epidemiologist. Here are seven reasons your "coronavirus party" is a bad idea". Opinion. New York Times. Archived from the original on 2020-06-01. Retrieved 2020-07-12.
  10. Dickson, E. J. (2020-05-07). "Are People Really Having 'Coronavirus Parties'?". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2020-07-09.
  11. Baker, Mike. "'Covid-19 Parties' Probably Didn't Involve Intentional Spread". The Coronavirus Outbreak. New York Times. Archived from the original on 2020-07-14. Retrieved 2020-07-14.
  12. Gorski, David (2020-07-13). "COVID-19 parties: Urban legend or real thing?". Science-Based Medicine. Archived from the original on 2020-07-21. Retrieved 2020-08-13.
  13. Edelman, Gilad. "'Covid Parties' Are Not a Thing No, Alabama frat boys aren't doing snot shots and betting on who can get sick first. Why does the media keep suggesting otherwise?". Ideas. Wired. Archived from the original on 2020-07-03. Retrieved 2020-07-12.
  14. Radford, Ben. "Texas Hospital Finds 'Covid Party' – Or Legend". A Skeptic Reads the Newspaper. Center for Inquiry. Archived from the original on 2020-07-12. Retrieved 2020-07-12.
  15. Radford, Ben; Ward, Celestia. "Episode 125 - Tonight We're Gonna Party Like It's Covid-1999". Squaring the Strange. Retrieved 2020-07-12.
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