- The spring breaker who said he would not let the coronavirus pandemic “let it stop me from partying” in Miami has apologized for his remarks.
- “If I get corona, I get corona. At the end of the day, I’m not gonna let it stop me from partying,” 22-year-old Brady Sluder told Reuters last week.
- He was widely criticized on social media, and accused of being irresponsible and selfish amid a national crisis which has now killed 728 Americans.
- On Sunday, he wrote on Instagram: “Life is precious. Don’t be arrogant and think you’re invincible like myself.”
- Young people are less likely to die from the coronavirus, but experts stress there’s a high chance they will contract it and infect a vulnerable person.
- Visit Insider’s homepage for more stories.
The spring breaker who boasted he didn’t care if he contracted the coronavirus while partying has apologized after widespread criticism.
“If I get corona, I get corona,” 22-year-old Brady Sluder told Reuters on Miami’s South Beach last Wednesday. “At the end of the day, I’m not going to let it stop me from partying.”
The video was shared widely on social media, and Sluder was widely slammed for his comments. At the time, the US had already reported 7,000 positive coronavirus cases, with at least one person infected in each US state. That number is now above 54,000.
https://twitter.com/Reuters/status/1240661810019291137?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
On Sunday, Sluder, from Ohio, apologized on Instagram.
"I would like to sincerely apologize for the insensitive comment I made in regard to COVID-19 while on spring break," he wrote. "I wasn't aware of the severity of my actions and comments."
"Listen to your communities and do as health officials say. Life is precious. Don't be arrogant and think you're invincible like myself. I've learned from these trying times and I've felt the repercussions to the fullest," he added.
http://instagr.am/p/B-C2M7knHvx
Days before Sluder made his remarks to Reuters, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis had already banned gatherings of more than ten people, closed bars and nightclubs for 30 days, and forced restaurants to shift to 50% capacity.
However, this wasn't enough to scare away the thousands of revelers visiting the Miami area for spring break.
The morning after Sluder made his remarks, DeSantis declared: "The party is over in Florida," banning congregations of any sort on any beach in the state.
Many young Americans believe that coronavirus doesn't pose a significant risk to their lives, but as healthcare workers have remonstrated at length, the disease is highly infectious and young people can still pass it to someone with underlying heath conditions.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also released data last week showing that a third of all coronavirus cases in the US are aged between 20 and 44.
Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institutes of Health's infectious-diseases division, has asked young people to act responsibly.
"You have a responsibility, a societal responsibility, to protect the vulnerable, and you do that - interestingly - by not letting yourself get infected," he said.
"You need to make sure you don't inadvertently pass on the infection to someone who would not fare as well as you fare because you are young and healthy."