College Students Throw ‘COVID Parties,’ Inviting Infected People and Betting on Who Gets Ill First
College students in Alabama have been throwing away parties when and where they would invite people infected with COVID-19 and make a bet on who would come down with the infection first.
Tuscaloosa Alabama officials yesterday, said, college students have been throwing away parties when and where they would invite people infected with COVID-19 and make a bet on who would come down with the infection first.
Tuscaloosa City Councilor Sonya McKinstry confirmed the practice on Wednesday through ABC News. It was on Tuesday when the said parties were first reported by Randy Smith, the city's fire.
According to Smith, the fire service had been getting reports of students who were "throwing parties and inviting 'identified positives,' although at first, they were just rumors.
The rumors got confirmed true after the doctors' offices confirmed the reports, which the state confirmed having similar information.
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Party and Betting Confirmed
According to news reports, on Wednesday, McKinstry went into further details about the said parties saying, not only were these events with infected individuals happening. Attendees went into gambling too, on who among those present would get ill or infected with the virus next.
Specifically, the city councilor said, the partygoers "put money in a pot" and tried to acquire COVID-19. The bet, McKinstry specified, was that whoever gets infected with the virus first would get the pot filled with money.
"It makes no sense," the city official said. She did not specifically mention, though, which college the said students were attending—incidentally, the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa's largest school for college students.
In March, the said university canceled its face-to-face or physical classes and spring commencement to control the spread of COVID-19.
Recently, the University of Alabama announced via its website, the school's plans to reopen for some physical classes in the fall.
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The City Government's Initiative
The city councilor said, as part of the city government's initiative, officials "were trying to break up every party they heard of," and this was such a challenging undertaking.
"It's nonsense," McKinstry repeated adding that she thinks when they're dealing with people's mindset who are deliberately "doing stuff like that," not to mention, spreading the virus intentionally, "how can one truly combat something that the citizens are consistently attempting to promote."
Residents of Alabama are currently under a directive "to quarantine for 14 consecutive days" should they test positive with COVID-19.
According to reports, violating the quarantine order may charge them an amount of $500. As of yesterday, the state has recorded more than 37,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases, which included more than 2,000 contagions in this city.
To date, more than 2,500 individuals have been confined at hospitals with infections, and almost 1,000 have died. This was based on the figures the state presented.
Additionally, the health authorities of Alabama have cautioned the public that the intensive care unit or ICU beds might run out if the number continues to rise.
Earlier on, a doctor at the Hospital Association in Alabama, Dr. Don Williamson, said last week that more than 80 percent of the ICU beds in the state were already full. As of that day, he announced possible unavailable beds. The doctor said there only "289 beds" to accommodate new patients.
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Jul 03, 2020 08:36 AM EDT
