COVID UPDATE 7/11 8:35PM PST

As I have described in the "ABOUT" section of my blog, as a millennial, I feel that it is a responsibility to help share data and facts about COVID-19 in order to do my part - in a small way - to try to help protect as many people as possible. 

The data and science overwhelmingly shows that this disease can be very serious, and it can affect both young people as well as older individuals. 

After reading about supposed, "COVID parties" - which (apparently) young people have held in order to see if anyone would in fact contract the illness - I was particularly alarmed.

We truly are all in this together, and it's crucial that we all do our part to help protect those around us, as well as our front line workers, who risk their lives every single day to work to provide services for so many. A simple and proven-effective way to help protect others is to wear a face covering.

I wanted to share some of my personal thoughts before I announce a very sad news story, involving a young person who attended a "COVID" party, and ultimately passed away from the illness. 

Please stay safe, my friends.

An article posted in INSIDER this morning explains, 

"A patient in their 30s reportedly died from coronavirus after attending a "COVID party" in San Antonio, Texas.

According to healthcare officials, before the patient's death, they admitted they believed the virus was a "hoax" and intentionally attended a party with an infected person.

"This is a party held by somebody diagnosed by the COVID virus and the thought is to see if the virus is real and to see if anyone gets infected," Dr. Jane Appleby, chief medical officer for Methodist Hospital and Methodist Children's Hospital, told WOAI NBC News Channel 4.

"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,'" Appleby said."

Appleby said she decided to make this case public to urge Bexar County natives to take the pandemic seriously — particularly young people, many of whom still seem to believe they cannot be seriously affected by the virus.

"It doesn't discriminate and none of us are invincible," Appleby said. "I don't want to be an alarmist and we're just trying to share some real-world examples to help our community realize that this virus is very serious and can spread easily."

Click here to read the full article.

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