On Sunday, President Trump announced that the COVID-19 social distancing guidelines will remain in effect until April 30. If people do not want that deadline to be further extended into May, then they should quit hosting “Corona Parties” attended by upwards of 40 people.
According to HuffPost, police in various cities are beginning to crack down on what they call “Corona Parties” that border on being full-blown raves. One party in New Jersey featured 47 guests and a DJ inside a 550-square-foot apartment.
“Can’t believe I have to say this at all, let alone for the second time. But here we are,” an exasperated New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy tweeted Saturday. “NO CORONA PARTIES. They’re illegal, dangerous, and stupid.”
Police said they arrested the man responsible “for obstructing administration of law or other governmental function and a violation of emergency and temporary acts.”
Another house party in Maryland was attended by up to 60 people before police arrested 41-year-old Shawn Myers. It was his second party that week.
“During the first incident, on March 22, police said they let Myers off with a warning after he agreed to ‘disperse the crowd,'” reports HuffPost. “On Friday, Myers allegedly refused multiple requests to comply with officers’ demands and was charged with violating the governor’s emergency order.”
“Similar public defiances have been reported in Detroit and Hawaii, where police have reportedly issued 70 citations and made two arrests for alleged stay-at-home order violations,” the report continued.
In Kentucky, a group of young adults recently hosted their own “Corona Party,” causing one of them to contract the virus.
From CNN:
At least one person in Kentucky is infected after taking part at a “coronavirus party” with a group of young adults, Gov. Andy Beshear said Tuesday.
The partygoers intentionally got together “thinking they were invincible” and purposely defying state guidance to practice social distancing, Beshear said.
“This is one that makes me mad,” the governor said. “We have to be much better than that.”
Since lockdown fever spread across the nation in response to the pandemic, doctors have warned young people to take the virus seriously, lest they help it spread to more people.
Dr. Eric Feigl-Ding, an epidemiologist and health economist at the Harvard Chan School of Public Health, said that young people who get the virus can also spread it much faster than the elderly because they are far more social.
“Young people do get sick, but more importantly they are carriers and get infected just like everyone. And they carry it to more places. They often see way more people … than someone who is older in their homes or a nursing home,” Feigl-Ding said. “It’s not just age, but risk factors that you have. For example, cardiovascular risk factors, heart disease, strokes, diabetes, high blood pressure, kidney disease, and of course all your lung diseases like bronchitis, asthma… and of course if you’re a smoker, which many young people are.”
Speaking with Fox News, Dr. Michael Donnino, emergency medicine and critical care physician at Boston’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, said that while young people will mostly experience mild symptoms of COVID-19, he warned that the minority who need hospitalization will be enough to overwhelm the medical system and take up needed ventilators. He also noted that patients 20-60 are experiencing severe effects of this disease at a higher rate than the seasonal flu.
“So, the virus can indeed cause severe, life-threatening disease for those ages 20-60 without any health problems,” said Donnino. “I believe this is important to understand not to cause excess alarm or panic, but so we can take the proper actions to mitigate.”