I made a mistake: 30-year-old dies after attending COVID party

A 30-year-old who thought that the coronavirus pandemic was a hoax has succumbed to the deadly virus in San Antonio.

The deceased had attended a "COVID party" thinking that the novel coronavirus is a hoax. 

“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.

Also read: COVID 19: US reports 9,747 new cases; death toll crosses 135,000

The concept of a "COVID party" has been becoming very popular in the US, which is the worst affected country in the world. In these parties, someone affected by the novel coronavirus hosts a party and invites a bunch of people to check if the virus spreads and infects anybody else. The party is hosted to prove that the pandemic is a hoax.

Sadly, the rising trend of the COVID parties is adding to the rising number of coronavirus cases in the US, experts believe.

“I don’t want to be an alarmist, and we’re just trying to share some real-world examples to help our community realise that this virus is very serious and can spread easily,” Appleby said. She also stated that the positivity rate in the US has jumped to 22 per cent, which means that about 1 in 5 people are testing positive out of the total samples.

Also read: WHO records highest single-daily spike with 230,370 global coronavirus cases

"This is a concerning increase from a positive rate of about five percent only several weeks ago," she added.

She also said that the age range of people being infected  by the virus is increasing as a lot of people aged between 20-30 are now getting infected, which is against the earlier expert view that the virus affects more old aged and young kids.

“Please wear a mask, stay at home when you can, avoid groups of people and sanitise your hands,” Appleby requested.