The authorities in southeast Washington State have identified at least two social events that people attended in the hope of contracting the virus.
A county in Washington State dealing with a coronavirus outbreak has identified a confounding new source of spread: “Covid-19 parties” organized so that people can deliberately mingle with an infected person in the hope of getting their own illness out of the way.
Meghan Debolt, the director of community health for Walla County, said Wednesday that county investigators had learned of two such parties in the area that occurred in recent weeks. Two people who went to one of the parties, which included at least 20 attendees, have since become sick and tested positive for the virus.
The discovery astounded local leaders who had been working in recent weeks to contain a large outbreak at a meat processing facility in the area.
“We want to be able to start to reopen our community,” Ms. Debolt said in an interview. “But if our community isn’t practicing proper physical distancing and social distancing guidelines, and they are intentionally trying to go and contract Covid-19, that sets us back pretty far from being able to open.
