'Covid Parties' Are Not a Thing

[WhiskeyGrinder]

https://www.wired.com/story/covid-parties-are-not-a-thing/

The dreaded “Covid party” has come to Alabama. Even as the number of hospitalized coronavirus patients in the state reached record highs, news came out this week that college students in Tuscaloosa have been 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. “Whoever gets Covid first gets the pot. It makes no sense.”

That much, at least, is true: This story makes no sense. Despite its implausibility and utter lack of valid sourcing, the fantasy of Alabama virus gamblers has nonetheless exploded across the internet, with slack-jawed coverage turning up in CNN, the New York Post, and the Associated Press, among many others. A representative headline declares, “Tuscaloosa students held parties, bet on who got coronavirus first.”

(snip)

The latest version of the tale, from Alabama, follows the same pattern as the others. It appears to be the product of a weird game of telephone mixed with loose talk from public officials and disgracefully sloppy journalism. On Tuesday, Tuscaloosa fire chief Randy Smith told the city council 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.”

(snip)

The press just can’t stop pushing the narrative that people are trying to get themselves infected. And they always seem to push it the same way: Local reporters write down what some official said, and then national publications pick up those claims, citing the local reports as evidence. At no point in this chain has anyone bothered to confirm the underlying claim. The whole thing is reminiscent of the supposed scourge, in the mid-2000s, of “pharm parties,” at which America’s wayward teens were said to put their parents’ prescription drugs into a bowl and then consume them at random. This did not really happen.

[Budi]

1. By the looks of the crowded bars & beaches, who needs home COVID parties.

Some don't appear to care enough about the virus to even get informed.

Good luck America

[oasis]

2. MSM got played. Story never made sense.

"Man bites dog" my ass.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

4. People believe what they want to believe.

[Steelrolled]

5. +1

I always get a kick out of the fake stories that come out that are eagerly reported without confirmation, mainly because they fit some stereotype. The Alabama story fits that bill.

[Mariana]

6. An awful lot of them seem to want to believe

that young people as a whole are stupid, irresponsible, and reckless, but especially stupid. Then they can feel all righteous and superior those imaginary idiotic young people. It's pretty sad, really.

[struggle4progress]

3. Teenagers probably aren't doing this, but I heard Donny Two Scoops has been holding Cough-in Rallies

[MoonlitKnight]

7. Trying to make it look like young people are driving infections

Meanwhile in Florida the actual numbers show that group has the lowest numbers.

[uncle ray]

9. they absolutely ARE driving infections.

they're likely to be asymptomatic carriers. the parties may be fake or over hyped, but young people are contributing to the spread.

[MoonlitKnight]

12. Data from Rebekah Jones

Link to tweet

?s=20

Updates complete: 10,109 new cases, but 11,150 newly positive according to
@HealthyFla
's new way of combining antigen (not antibody) and PCR tests. But they don't tell you how many of those are positive re-tests vs antigen. And largest increase in cases was 65-79 years old, so...

Link to tweet

?s=20

DOH added "median age per day" to the PDF report -- which was NEVER there before -- but failed to mention that the age group with the LOWEST increase in cases this week is... *drumroll* ... 18-34. How you like them apples?

[uncle ray]

16. that graph doesn't refute what i said.

also, the 18-34 age group posted the smallest increase, but is still the highest case count by a large amount.

[MoonlitKnight]

18. That age group is 40% of the population by age group

NOT 40% of all positive tests.

They are not only the age group with the lowest percentage increase in infections, but they are the biggest age group by population- which makes their low increase compared to other age groups greater proof that the narrative that it’s mostly young people spreading the virus untrue.

[Thunderbeast]

8. I got played along with them

Our country has become so dysfunctional, that something even this ridiculous can be possible...even if not true.

[BGBD]

11. I was in college back then...

but I don't remember those Pharm Parties being talked about.

That seems like it would be an awful experience anyway based on what most parents would have in their medicine cabinets. I'm think it would be a bunch of teenagers with uncontrollable erections, no heartburn, and clear sinuses. I guess if they have that party daily for a month or so they might get enough zoloft in them to be a bit less anxious about things too.

[Tipperary]

13. I never believed this.

Cannot believe so many (even here) did. As the article says, it simply made no sense.

[raccoon]

14. You mean it's "fake news"? NT

[superpatriotman]

15. Local Fox affiliate just reported this as true

Even though it’s unconfirmed

The media is failing Covid as much as the federal government

[sl8]

17. Associated Press coverage, via Snopes:

https://www.snopes.com/ap/2020/07/02/officials-students-in-alabama-threw-covid-contest-parties/

This article is republished here with permission from The Associated Press. This content is shared here because the topic may interest Snopes readers; it does not, however, represent the work of Snopes fact-checkers or editors.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) — Several college students in an Alabama city organized “COVID-19” parties as a contest to see who would get the virus first, an official said.

Students hosted the parties to intentionally infect each other with the new coronavirus, news outlets quoted Tuscaloosa City Councilor Sonya McKinstry as saying. McKinstry said party organizers purposely invited guests who tested positive for COVID-19. She said the students put money in a pot and whoever got COVID first would get the cash.

“It makes no sense,” McKinstry said. “They’re intentionally doing it.”

Tuscaloosa Fire Chief Randy Smith told the City Council on Tuesday that fire officials confirmed some students had attended parties despite knowing they were infected. The department thought the parties were rumors, but Smith said after some research, officials discovered they were real.

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