A Texas doctor disclosed that after attending a "COVID party," a 30-year-old patient - who believed that the coronavirus pandemic was just a hoax - fell ill and died.
The patient, who was taken to the Methodist Hospital in San Antonio, is just one of thousands in the past few days to test positive for the virus in the state. Texas state authorities on Saturday said they have registered a staggering 10,351 new infections per day.
"I thought it was a hoax, but it's not." Those were the final words of the patient after attending the party, the hospital said, as reported by Ella Torres of ABC News and posted on Yahoo News.
Methodist Hospital and Methodist Children's Hospital chief medical officer Dr. Jane Appleby said in a recorded statement that the unidentified patient told the nursing staff about the party, which she said is hosted by a person who has been diagnosed with COVID-19.
COVID parties are organized by young individuals to deliberately get sick and make antibodies. While it was first believed that the virus only caused death in older people and those with existing health problems, more and more formerly healthy young adults are filling medical facilities and even morgues.
There has been a major increase in coronavirus cases across Texas and San Antonio is currently overburdened with 18,000 cases, and over 1,200 patients confined in the hospital.
In a related news, during a conference call Wednesday, the Minnesota Department of Health announced that as they continue to test people for the highly-contagious disease, they are finding those who are getting infected are getting younger and younger.
"The median age of our virus cases continues to trend down," Jan Malcolm, Minnesota Department of Health Commissioner disclosed, Crystal Bui of KSTP News, quoted him as saying in her report.
Those between 20-29 years old, the report said, comprise over 21 percent of positive cases, which is the biggest percentage of any age group, as they make up under 1 percent of deaths, and only about 3 percent of intensive care cases.
Meanwhile, Appleby revealed that the parties are held by those who are very skeptical of COVID-19 and include someone who has been previously found to have contracted the disease.
Partygoers attend to find out for themselves "if the virus is real and if anyone gets infected." Similar parties have been reported in other areas in the United States, including Kentucky and Alabama.
Although the virus has been determined primarily for its impact on older people, health experts claim the disease can also impair patients in the young age groups.
