[imagesource: Getty]

Last night, President Cyril Ramaphosa reprimanded the South Africans out there who decided to use the easing of restrictions during alert level 3 to throw parties and attend mass gatherings.

Now we can’t buy alcohol again and there’s a curfew in place.

We’re not the only country dealing with people who can’t seem to wrap their heads around the idea that we’re facing a growing, and at times deadly, pandemic.

In America, these videos of Karens refusing to wear masks will tell you everything that you need to know about why the US now has more confirmed cases and deaths, than any other country in the world.

Then there are ‘COVID parties’, that serve two functions.

Firstly, people attend them to deliberately catch the virus.

Secondly, reports The Guardian, people who believe the virus is a hoax, attend to see if they’ll contract the disease.

In an attempt to scare people straight, a Texas health official released the following story:

A 30-year-old patient died after attending a ‘“Covid party”, believing the virus to be a hoax.

“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,’” said Dr Jane Appleby, the chief medical officer at Methodist hospital in San Antonio.

Appleby said: “I don’t want to be an alarmist, and we’re just trying to share some real-world examples to help our community realise that this virus is very serious and can spread easily.”

Appleby decided to share the story after she noticed a concerning rise in infections.

A broader age range were being affected, with several 20 and 30 year olds critically ill at the Methodist hospital, she said.

“Please wear a mask, stay at home when you can, avoid groups of people and sanitise your hands,” said Appleby.

The call for caution came as top officials in Houston urged the city to lock back down as hospitals struggled to accommodate new coronavirus cases.

Last week, Texas was breaking state records for confirmed cases and deaths linked to COVID-19.

The Republican Governor, Greg Abbott, is resisting the lockdown, saying that it would be a “last resort”.

I don’t know who is worse. The people organising the parties, the governor, or Donald Trump, who has consistently downplayed the seriousness of the disease.

To any Americans out there reading this:

Vote in the coming elections.

[source:guardian]