Public health officials are issuing new warnings about COVID parties, after a 30-year-old died in Texas.
Officials in Texas said the 30-year-old attended a ‘Covid party’, where people gather after a positive test is identified in their social circle. These ‘parties’ have been popping up and occurring with more prevalence in recent weeks as some continue to call the Novel Coronavirus a hoax, or overblown.
Additional information was not immediately available about that individual’s risk factors or exposure, but public health officials used it as an opportunity to alert residents about potential risks associated with the Novel Coronavirus — and gathering in groups of any size.
“Just before the patient died, they looked at their nurse and said ‘I think I made a mistake, I thought this was a hoax, but it’s not,’” said Dr Jane Appleby, the chief medical officer at Methodist hospital in San Antonio told local media.
Appleby said that more young people are getting ill from the virus, and that hospitals are getting slammed in Texas as result.
Local officials have not noted any known COVID parties in the Finger Lakes or Upstate New York. However, health officials issued general warnings about gatherings at indoor venues. Governor Andrew Cuomo has cleared the way for gatherings of up to 50 people to take place. And last week shopping malls reopened across the state.
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