Dozens of spring breakers from Texas boarded a plane for fun and came home with coronavirus.
About 70 people in their 20s chartered a plane from Austin, Texas, to Mexico for spring break two weeks ago. They went against the advice of White House officials who asked that people avoid gathering in groups of more than 10 and nonessential air travel.
Now 44 of those people have tested positive for coronavirus -- all of them University of Texas at Austin students, a university spokesman told CNN on Wednesday.
An elected official had a blunt message for the spring breakers.
"Quit being an ass," Texas House Speaker Dennis Bonnen told CNN affiliate KXAN. "Get over yourselves. Whether you think this is an issue or not, it is. Whether you think it could affect you or not, it does. The reality of it is, if I'm a college kid who's going to spring break in Mexico, you're affecting a lot of people. Grow up."
What's also alarming is that some of the passengers who went on the trip to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, took commercial flights home, the Austin Public Health Department said.
""The virus often hides in the healthy and is given to those who are at grave risk of being hospitalized or dying," Austin-Travis County Interim Health Authority Dr. Mark Escott said in a statement.
If they infect an innocent bystander, who then dies, is it manslaughter?,
That is a very good question!
To paraphrase Albert Einstein: genius has its limits, but stupidity has no bounds.
So very true ,unfortuneatly
"Advising" people does not work. Even if 90% take heed, there will be that 10% who decide not to take the advice.
Mandating, with strict penalties for disobedience, is necessary.
Western Australia is in partial lockdown, with fines of up to $50,000 for those who breach it.
@anglophone I've got an old friend who lives there, in Perth.
He's the guy with whom I painted the Russian embassy red many years ago.