The latest Covid party story has a twist

Covid party The epidemic continues to dominate the country, or at least the national press. The latest example is Texas, where a 30-year-old man is said to have confessed to having joined his bed. “Immediately before the patient died” Announced “They looked at the nurses and said, “I thought this was a hoax, but it wasn’t,” said Jane Appleby, chief medical officer of Methodist Hospital in San Antonio.

What started as local news in southern Texas on Friday quickly became a national story. By Sunday Write up for New York TimesSuch a party formally quoted one doctor’s warning as “dangerous, irresponsible, and potentially fatal.”

2 weeks ago, I OK The news report follows a very consistent pattern of Covid parties that people are likely to gather for the purpose of catching the virus. The source is always a government or health authority with at least some steps removed from its direct knowledge of the alleged incident. The story is first reported by the local media and then picked up and amplified by larger publications that add little or no additional reports. For example, a few weeks ago, the internet exploded with the story of a college student in Alabama. It seems that they threw a party with the infected and were betting on who could catch the virus first. The outlet from the Associated Press to CNN picked up the story with its off-the-shelf stereotypes about Southerners and idiots. However, when examining it, I found that all news reports go back to comments from one council member of the city of Tuscaloosa, who did not provide proof of the claim.

Immediately after my work appeared, the student newspaper of the University of Alabama paper Here, Ramesh Peramsetty, a Tuscaloosa doctor whose Christian offers the Covid test, confirmed that the rumors were true. When I followed up on Peramsetty, he admitted that he had no direct knowledge of Covid’s parties. That was what he heard from his staff who worked directly with the patient. He guided me to clinical manager Jerry Hannah, who said she had direct knowledge. But Hannah told me that she had heard from another clinic employee about the Covid party. The second employee, who was harassed while running the test site and asked not to use his name, revealed that he was only hearing about the party from some of his staff, but exactly I didn’t know who didn’t remember. The rumor remained rumored.

The story of Texas is the same. The patient, who is now dead and unable to confirm the story, probably said to the nurse talking to others in the hospital. In her video, Health Director Appleby makes no other claims. “I heard a heartbreaking story this week,” she says. In association with interview For a local bureau, Appleby describes a hearing about a party called “Hold a party that invites friends to see if someone has been diagnosed with illness and they can beat it”. ..

Including media New York TimesReported the story, without trying to go to the bottom of the story, or even finding basic information such as where and when the suspicious party took place. Even making false convictions by making Headline The source of the claim is omitted, as in ABC News, “I thought the virus was a hoax when I was 30 years old after joining the “COVID party.” San Antonio Express-News report The city’s Metropolitan Health District “had not heard that such a party would take place in Alamo City.” When I contacted the hospital and asked for comments, Communication Director Cheri Love-Moceri told me that Appleby wasn’t available and “we shared everything she could do with this patient.” She also said the hospital could not share the name of the nurse who reported the confession of the death bed.

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Like the legends of other cities, the story of the Covid Party changes little by little as you tell it. Until this latest iteration, events have almost always been explained or imagined, like “Pox partyIn the old days, when people caught the virus and tried to boost their immunity,And get over it.. The explanation did not seem to already fit into the alleged Tuscaloosa case, where it was said that college kids were betting on the outcome. In San Antonio, it’s not even closer. If the victim really thought the pandemic was hoax, why did he want an antibody? Therefore, the concept of Covid parties has expanded. Therefore New York Times Not to be aware that there is a sly wise addition, “the premise of such a party is to test whether the virus actually exists or to deliberately expose people to coronavirus to acquire immunity. The story also seems to grow even more dramatic as it is revisited. First is the betting pool, the figure of a dying man now.