A man in the US city of San Antonio, Texas, has died from coronavirus after he tried to prove that the disease was a hoax, a local news website reported. The man, said to be in his 30s, attended a so-called "COVID party", which in some cases have been organized in order to become infected with the disease so that after one is cured of it, one doesn’t have to stay at home. However, in other cases, these parties have been organized in order to see if anyone gets infected, as there are many people worldwide who still believe the virus is a hoax.
After attending such a party, the man became critically ill. Chief Medical Officer of Methodist Healthcare Dr. Jane Appleby spoke about a heartbreaking moment she had with the patient.
"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.' 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", said Dr. Appleby.
The development comes as the United States, which has the largest number of coronavirus cases and the largest death toll from the disease, continues to see an enormous spike of coronavirus infections after authorities lifted safety restrictions. On 10 July the US saw a record number of cases - more than 63,000. On average there has been a 5 percent rise in case. San Antonio alone recorded 18,000 new infections on Thursday. US leading doctor Bob Lahita made a dire prediction that the spike in cases will be followed by a dramatic increase in deaths if the authorities don’t reimpose a nationwide lockdown.