Why Covid Parties are a dangerous idea?
The idea that intentionally exposing oneself to Covid-19 virus to build immunity in the name of ‘Covid Parties’ had precedented from the age-old practice of exposing children to dangerous viruses that included Chicken Pox and Rubella. The Covid Party trend has now become the buzzword among youth and is spreading like a wildfire across the nations. The healthcare systems everywhere are hugely concerned because this idea of developing immunity is not only riddled with flawed logic but also dangerous in the sense that the creation of anti-bodies from such exposure is ambiguous. In fact, Corona Virus is so new that doctors and researchers have just scratched the surface in learning about it.
Particularly where the parties involve drugs and alcohol, most party goers would be addicts and possess low immune. There has been a vital observation that Corona Virus hits people with substance use disorders very hard. The covid parties could be a major threat to persons who smoke tobacco or marijuana or who vape, because it attacks their lungs ensuring no recovery. People with opioid use disorder (OUD) and methamphetamine use disorder also are at a higher risk from the virus owing to its effects on respiratory and pulmonary health. These times are a unique challenge to most drug addicts who move in groups and involve themselves in Covid Parties making them exceedingly vulnerable to the transmission of Corona Virus. Also, drug addicts when effected with Corona Virus need to be under the supervision of doctors for addiction problems and virus-related concerns simultaneously which could be impossible at the moment as corona treatment centres are separated from general hospitals.
The story of Sweden’s (the country that did not follow pandemic norms in a bid to develop herd immunity), highest 7-day rolling average of daily confirmed COVID-19 deaths per million in Europe is a strong evidence to suggest that immunity to Corona Virus is a myth. While many may think that the virus is a one-week affair that simply gives fever and chills, reports have that the long-term or delayed-onset of virus side-effects in adults still remain uncertain, but pulmonary, neurologic and cardiovascular damage (including stroke) have been reported as some of the common side effects of the virus. Health care professionals are still advocating continued social distancing, hand washing and mask wearing despite the invention of vaccination. Such is the novelty of the virus.
Especially in India, intentional exposure may have serious implications for the community. Cases of Covid-19 have been surging at an alarming rate in India, a country of 1.37 billion people with at least 2,61,000 new infections on a single day. Mutual to the pandemic crisis, rising substance abuse is another plague that’s posing a threat to the economy of the country. The Covid Parties involving drug and alcohol can add insult to injury by leading to increased death toll and wide spread contagion. The health systems have already started to crack because of caseloads that are pushing medical facilities towards their highest capacity. Crematoria too started to breakdown given the sheer number of bodies being cremated per day. Bhramar Mukherjee, a bio-statician wrote last week that India will be facing 3000 deaths a day, twice its current levels if proper precautions aren’t taken.
The biggest botheration here is that there are no means to predict who may have life-threatening complications because of the virus. Only because one person is asymptomatic and tested positive for Covid doesn’t mean the entire age group is safe and calls for a party to develop the so-called immune. Sometimes intentional exposure could put the entire partying group’s health at stake, who then carry the infection to someone who may get killed. Reports have confirmed that people can carry virus two days before they get symptomatic or the virus shows up in them.
So much about the pandemic has been taxing for so many people who have lost their jobs or loved ones for the virus. We understand the desperation of people who deliberately expose themselves to the virus for the want of developing permanent immune to Corona Virus and returning back to normalcy. In such cases, it is advised for such people to presumably self-quarantine themselves to prevent transmitting the disease to others and this would require a strict adherence to self-quarantine measures by everyone living at his/her home.
We all are aware of the case where an Indian man who said Covid was a hoax died from virus after hosting illegal parties. Given the fact that up to 40% of people who have been affected show no symptoms, it is no wonder that those family members may decide to go to work or run daily errands normally. This means the family members in turn are capable of transmitting the disease to others who may take very ill and sometimes die. These parties are a high-risk activity for society as a whole. With health care systems collapsing, non-availability of beds in the hospitals and medical staff increasingly breaking down and committing suicides due to work related stress, it only takes common sense for a person to follow the pandemic norms and contribute to the common cause by co-operating with the government.
Stay clear of Covid Parties!! They are a hindrance to the safety and recovery of the nation as a whole.
