Right about now, a party sounds amazing, even for an introvert like me. We've all been on some form of lockdown or shelter in place since around St. Patrick's Day, and we're anxious to get back to normal. Sadly, with the way cases are rising in some states, it doesn't look like parties — or any types of large gatherings — will be returning to normal anytime soon, and a party right now is not a good idea. So why did a mother in Florida decide to let her child attend a COVID-19 exposure party? Who would risk intentional exposure to the coronavirus?
Carole Brunton Davis opted to allow her teen daughter to attend an in-person church event. Without social distancing or masks, the idea was to build "herd immunity" and get the virus over with. When her daughter contracted COVID-19, she began treating her with hydroxychloroquine. Ultimately, her already immunocompromised child died in late June.
Intentionally subjecting your child to a disease in order to build immunity may seem preposterous to some parents, but it's not new. Chicken pox parties were popular for a while. The premise was to expose children to a child with a case of chicken pox. This would serve to get the inevitable childhood disease "out of the way." When the varicella-zoster (chicken pox) virus vaccine came on the market, these parties happened less often. They do still occur, however, in some parenting circles. Intentionally exposing yourself or your child to COVID-19 is not a good look.
What is herd immunity?
Why your child should not attend a coronavirus exposure party
Attending a coronavirus exposure party, or allowing your child to attend one, is a bad idea, no matter how you look at it. Increasing infections, especially intentionally, is actually counterintuitive to slowing the spread of the virus. Your child may not be affected, but the potential exists to spread the virus to an immunocompromised family member. In the case of Carsyn Leigh Davis, her parents paid the ultimate price of being uninformed: They lost their beautiful daughter.
While not officially confirmed by the University of Alabama, there have been reports in Alabama of gambling-type COVID-19 parties where the first person to contract the virus wins the prize money. So it's not just parents who are under incorrect assumptions about attending an exposure party.
The bottom line is that we have to slow and limit the exposure to COVID-19 any way we can. That means wearing a mask when in public and continuing to practice social distancing — and avoiding large gatherings and parties.
