Earlier this month, a large group of New Jersey teens, aged 15-19, enjoyed a house party. This wasn’t back in February when we were just starting to understand the strength of the virus. Not the end of May when we all still held on to the hope that the summer would help flatten the curve. No, they attended a party on July 11, when the country was still reporting record cases of COVID-19 and we were learning every day that any person, any age could contract and spread the virus. And guess what? 20 of those party goers have tested positive for COVID, while the county calls for the remaining partiers to get tested and quarantine.
Parents are now cooperating with health officials after a teen party in Middletown, New Jersey, led to a Covid-19 cluster in the area.
More than 20 teens tested positive for the coronavirus after attending a house party on July 11, Middletown Health Department spokeswoman Tara Berson tells CNN.
The partygoers ranged in age from 15 to 19 years old, Berson said.
Earlier this week, health officials attempted to contact parents and teens for contact tracing, but said their response was “less than satisfactory.”
Parents have since been more responsive, a statement from Middletown Health Department Director Rich DeBenedetto says in part, “We have received a large response from parents who weren’t aware of the situation and thankful that they could address it with their kids and ensure they get tested/quarantine.”
“To be perfectly clear this is not a witch hunt to root out anyone who was drinking underage although we do not condone underage drinking, and remember folks, it is illegal. But this is not what this is about. This is a race against the clock to ensure that everyone who may have been exposed to coronavirus is identified before they infect anyone else,” Murphy said.
It was not expressly stated in the article that this house party took place inside, but at his press conference on Thursday, the governor reiterated that even young and healthy people cannot congregate closely indoors, which leads me to believe that this event did take place inside. So we have a group of kids, who thought they were impervious to a virus that is closing in on a million deaths worldwide, and risked it all for a beer with their buddies. Now 20 of those young lives will be impacted by this deadly virus. Hopefully, they will escape the more serious of the symptoms, but we are seeing more and more that age and vitality isn’t a proven shield.
Obviously, the choice to go to the party was a bad one, but let’s be honest, this isn’t the first time we’ve looked at young people in that age range and asked, “what were you thinking?!” Hopefully teens elsewhere will read this and think twice about doing something as stupid. I’m more curious about the parents’ reaction. Maybe some of the parents didn’t know their kids had even attended the party and once they found out, they hauled the teen to an urgent care for testing. But this article sounds like some parents were stonewalling inquires because they didn’t want their child’s (and their) reputation hurt by underage drinking. Are there people still that ignorant about what’s going on around us, that their resolve will protect their child from harm? Even accepting that maybe the parents were in the dark, the first time a call went out to test kids in the area, there should have been no resistance. If we want to get through this, we have to start working together. That goes for mask wearing, it goes for social distancing and it goes for parents willing to be the bad guy and tell their kids no, no matter how much they whine. I understand 18 & 19 year olds are adults, but when it’s their life at stake, parents still get to parent.
Photo credit: Martin Lopez, Maurício Mascaro and mentatdgt from Pexels
Teens will be teens.
I wish them a speed recovery but my support and simpathy goes only to the doctors and nurses who have to deal with this.
Meh. Most teens are still living with their parents. Parents need to be parents. And beyond that, many of the people who aren’t following mask and social distancing rules are older, so I don’t like pinning this solely on the younger set.
I was thinking that myself – unless they snuck out, wouldn’t you be aware that your kid isn’t home? They shouldn’t be going anywhere or hanging out with friends yet.
Teens will be teens, but parents need to step up and be role models. Clearly not cooperating with the contact tracing indicates the parents are major selfish assholes which not surprisingly is behavior the teens will emulate in having a dumb ass house party during a pandemic. Not wanting your child to get in trouble for the underage drinking vs helping health authorities pretty much tells your children not to take responsibility for anything stupid shit they do. Which is why we end up with someone like Trump.
My neighbors have an older teen and young adult son that live with them. It seems like every other week there is some big gathering of young peopleat the house and I never see any masks. We are in Florida though, and I’m in a big Trumpster neighborhood, so I’m not surprised to see this level of irresponsibility going on. Maybe my neighbors’ parties will end up in the news too soon :-(.
Some of my oldest/closest friends are the mothers of older teenagers in NJ. Two of them have daughters who just graduated high school and are leaving for college in the next few weeks. Both of the girls were part of groups that rented beach houses for a week to celebrate their high school graduations. Both sets of parents knew what they were doing and just shrugged their shoulders. “She’s 18 and leaving for college. What am I supposed to do?” I wanted to scream “BE A RESPONSIBLE PARENT.” I have a 16 year old (yes, I know there is a difference between 16 and 18). Maybe it’s because we live in Manhattan and lived through the horror of April and ambulances under our windows all day and night for weeks on end. Maybe it’s because the woman who lives across the hall from us is an infectious disease specialist who basically moved into the hospital, worked and didn’t come home for six weeks. I just know that mine wouldn’t do anything like that (and I’d ground her until she’s 40 if she tried).
Yep. Teens will be teens. What’s the president’s excuse?
Yes, and Betsy DeVos.
On July 16th she spread the lie that “kids are stoppers of the disease”. Think of how many people hear comments like these and take risks because of it! Her comments are so dangerous!
Children younger than 10 transmit the virus at a lower rate than those 10 and older, but they absolutely do not “stop” the disease. Additionally, children 10 and older are still “Kids”, and they can get the disease and spread it just as easily as adults.
Over here in Europe we seem to have finally accepted that aerosols are our main problem. so it would make sense that kids under 10 transmit less because obviously their aerosols are mostly below what we are breathing in. My parents are doctors and straight up told me not to kneel down to talk to my 4 yr old neighbor as I normally do even from a distance of 5 feet to ease communication. Grandparents picking up grandkids, not a good idea. Here, kids under 6, sometimes 12 are not required to wear masks. Are they wearing masks in the US?
To be fair, all age groups have been shown to be stupid during this pandemic.
^^^^^ This^^^
I am expanding my no-fly guest list daily just from watching friends on Instagram. No -fly as in, that isht don’t fly with me and you are banned from my home. My approved guest list was very short to begin with, now it’s almost non existent. As the pandemic went on, even friends who were doing good, wearing masks, social distancing, have decided they’re done with all that and they need summer pictures on their Instagram. Enjoy! You won’t be in my pool this year, that’s all I know.
@Darla I am observing the same. Smart friends, who used to take this seriously, have stopped being careful and are planing (small) garden parties. My very short of people for whom I would open the door has been reduced to.. 3 or 4 now. Not even my boyfriend is on it anymore because going out to party is more important for him than not infecting me (I am in a risk group, but he doesn’t care. He gets bored).
@Darla – ha same here! We just moved to a house with a pool, but unfortunately we aren’t letting many people over to enjoy it 🙁 Husband is on steroids for an immune issue, so we take quarantine very seriously.
Same here, Darla! I have a friend who I thought was taking it so seriously, and then I saw her on Instagram out to eat, taking pictures without a mask in sight, etc. It can feel at times like I’m the only person in my social circles who is continuing to stay home as much as possible and take precautions. Very frustrating, but I’m also quite confident in my choices to protect my health/the health of those around me, so no social visits with these people who are becoming lax!
I literally just drove across country to escape the H*llscape that is Florida. I was terrified the entire time of picking up Covid in a hotel room, so I stayed in tiny out of the way towns in the Mid-West (B&B), which were empty. Then, I quarantined for 14 days and those were the most nerve racking of my life (and I’m a retired veteran who served during a war).
I only did this because my DOCTOR told me to get out of Florida. I have severe asthma and even though I was staying in my house, I had a higher chance of contracting Covid in FL. So, when I see these stories I shake my head, not only at the teens, but the most especially their parents.
True. I live in a big building complex and very few people are wearing masks. We are in a high-risk part of the city and country with high-risk populations and still, no one wears a mask. The building management sends out weak posters about it, but then this weekend, sent an email about being nice to people who choose not to wear masks. So I will sue management if I get sick. Period. The levels of irresponsibility and disrespect are epic. I try not to leave my apartment more than once a week because I am immune compromised to a degree and can’t deal with the blatant ignorance of people who just don’t give a s*** that they are playing roulette with other people’s lives. Just this morning to check the mail–never though I’d live in such fear of checking the mail–a woman gets on at 21st floor without a mask. I didn’t think fast enough to stop her–though she should have stopped herself but clearly not enough brain power to wear a mask–so I got off and walked down 21 flights of stairs. I can’t do it coming up but I feel safer in a deserted stairwell than elevators used constantly by people not wearing masks. It’s criminal, honestly, plus we have a lot of elders who live in this building.
There was a column in a Texas paper recently by a Trumper who had been on the conspiracy train about Covid. In June, he had a family get together that included his in laws. The next day, the in-laws went to visit a daughter who had just had a baby. The father in law’s mother went with them.
The morning after the Trumper’s house party, the Trumper woke up sick. Then his partner got sick. Then the mother and father in law, then the father in law’s mother, then the parents of the newborn. The Trumper ended up in the hospital with the virus attacking his central nervous system and came close to dying from a stroke. The father in law had to be put on a ventilator. The father in law’s mother died alone from Covid complications with her son in the next hospital room.
The Trumper is living with heartbreaking guilt and remorse that his belligerent stupidity set all this in motion.
I don’t know how we ever get this this disease under control when so many refuse to believe in it until it destroys their own lives.
Too many Americans are selfish, because, you know, FREEdumb! And, yeah, most of them are trumpers.
It needs to destroy their lives. And instead of seeking help, they should be prepared to stay at home and treat the virus themselves with whatever bleach injections Dear Leader advised.
I’m sick of these people spouting stupidity until they are affected then wanting sympathy. No. Suffer the consequences alone. Don’t take us with you.
I don’t understand why so many Americans are against something unless it affects us directly? Not just covid but literally anything else. I know there are people here who have empathy, but it seems we’re in the minority.
Because regardless of racial or demographic background, “Americans” have internalized generations of propaganda that they are the best and deserve to do what they want. Conscious or subconscious, this country is full of people who feel entitled to everything. It’s across political affiliations and certainly not relegated only to the far right. I am scared every time I leave my apartment, and scared long-term to stay in this country. I have citizenship but I wish I had moved on dual before this hit so I could get out of here legally. I’m so afraid that people’s truly evil willful ignorance will be the end of me.
I saw that article and it enraged me further. In the typical narcissistic pattern of a Trumper, the virus doesn’t exist until it actually affected them. And once it did, ooh, bring on the performance!! NOBODY’S tragedy touches the scope and range of this family…they are victims, VICTIMS, oh woe, woe, WOE…. The main suffering protagonist of this drama resonates with Alfrid Lickspittle, the movie Hobbit character. It’s all about him, isn’t it?.
Thoughts and prayers. And…bless their hearts, each and every one.
And the guy said that he was spreading his story so more people take the virus seriously, but he also agreed that people like him just won’t take it seriously until it affects them in some way. And that’s the truth. People will just ignore things until lit affects them – they’re inherently selfish, way more selfish than people give them credit for.
That Trumper is a gay Republican who claimed the virus was a “hoax”. I have no sympathy for him. Sorry, but Trump and cronies have tried to tear down every civil right advancement LGBTQ people have made in the last decade. And people brought a BABY to a party?
Take this story, change the town to Surf City on Long Beach Island NJ and it’s also true. My two nieces were at a party in surf City and they both now have Covid-19 as do around 16 other kids who were at the party. Caveat: while on LBI they live in their grandmothers beach house, and she has been there all summer. She is in her late 80s., and also lives with her adult son who has Down syndrome. I’m in disbelief that my sister did not read them the riot act but she’s like, “teens will be teens and we’re all going to get this anyways.” Ok, but what about your mother- and brother-in-law?!?! This is still scary and very REAL.
The lifeguard party? (I’m local to that area).
I am consistently amazed and infuriated at all of the people, young and old, who do not take this seriously, and are making it so much worse and longer for everyone else.
Bingo!
It really scares me when people so nonchalantly say “we’re all going to get it eventually!” I mean, thankfully I’ve never gotten the flu. I get the vaccine every year and am extra careful with hand washing during that time of the year. I don’t intend on getting COVID either, because getting either one could be very serious for me and would likely kill my mom. People who resign themselves to believing we’ll all get it eventually don’t seem to realize just how much more death that would entail.
Right? And even if you do get it it’s not like the chickenpox where you’ll be immune from getting it again. But I guess if people want to stick their heads in the sand and not listen to any cautionary stories or SCIENTIFIC FACTS then I guess we as a society are doomed to have to hit rock bottom before they will pay attention.
That attitude scares me too. I have family members who think I’m overreacting by staying in quarantine, because they think it’s just inevitable we all get it. Horrible, horrible viewpoint, but they won’t pay attention to science. I read that Sweden tried for “herd immunity” by letting the coronavirus run rampant, and they’ve now had more per capita deaths than the U.S. and have achieved a mere 10% herd immunity.
This virus is so new, and we are only beginning to understand the long term consequences. Some people experience fevers nearly every day for months. Some have memory problems. Joint and nerve pain, problems with reading and comprehension, irreversible damage to kidneys, lungs, heart, brain. It was first seen as a disease that attacks mostly the lungs, but we are learning every day that it has serious blood clotting attributes that wreck damage all throughout the body.
Those that act like it is inevitable don’t know what they are signing up for.
We are so selfish that we can’t process that all the safety measures are not just about me me me. God knows how many others those 20 teens have now infected, and how many of those people will end up dead or in hospital because some selfish children and their parents can’t see beyond their own selfish needs. Covid is exposing all the terrible people.
I know teens will be teens but come on, everyone should know by now that parties should not be happening. Corona has been around for a long enough time for people to know what is right and wrong.
I agree. They shouldn’t get a pass because they are teens. Teens are old enough to drive a damn car and have a job. They are old enough to know parties are a big NO right now. Their parents seem like morons as well.
This is my town, and the Health Director is actually my boss’s husband. No one wanted to report who was at the party. They would call to inquire, so they could contact trace and get hung up on. This is a town of lots of Trumpers, lots of people crying about masks. This is a town where large group of parents tried to have the black high school valedictorian stripped of her title for speaking out against the racism she experienced growing up there. This is a town that has been vocal about “backing the Blue” except I guess when they think their precious teens will be trouble. So many people here are grossly entitled and awful.
Wow. What an example the parents are setting.
It’s actually surprising any of them eventually cooperated.
My boss told me that the media attention helped. And that they were told their kids wouldn’t get in trouble for underage drinking. Of course.
This is why calls for people to parent are basically useless. It isn’t some sort of teens gonna teen without parental consent issue, because many parents know and they don’t care. In my school’s service area there was an outbreak because of a parent organized prom. A lot of these Chads and Karens are parents. It’s like that old anti drugs commercial: I learned it from watching you!
I’m from a nearby town. I’d like to add that this area in NJ has some of the lowest vaccination rates in the country. So public health is obviously not an area of interest. I’m seeing adults out there wearing masks below their noses (if at all), going out to parties, and verbally assaulting anyone who complains. This doesn’t surprise me at all.
I grew up in a nearby town. I was going to respond with the same. As I understood it from family who still liver there, the controversy wasn’t so much the house party itself, but the response – the refusal to participate in contact tracing, which initially seemed to have parental backing…until the story got national attention.
My 16 year old keeps getting invited to beach parties-which he does not attend. We’re spiking here in SoCal-I do not understand how people continue to let their teens do whatever they want because “they need to go out and have fun.” Getting sick, passing the virus on to others who very well could get extremely sick, potentially be hospitalized or die is really not fun. I feel like our family is in such a minority about how seriously we’re taking the pandemic-which makes it feel even more isolating.
It’s so confusing, what is wrong with people?? Here in the UK we this week we’re being inundated with sob stories from people who booked holidays to Spain (I know) and on Saturday it was announced that as of midnight Spain is back on the quarantine list and anyone returning needs to quarantine for two weeks. If you book a holiday DURING A GLOBAL PANDEMIC do not be surprised if things don’t go to plan. We are ALL fed up with this but it will be under control much better if we all do the things that make a difference and reduce transmission rates. Rant over.
My three neighborhood frequent party houses have never stopped having 10+ carload get-togethers. Several hours long, no masks or distancing observed among those you can see huddled outside or through the widows.
The hosts are age 50s-60s. One is an oncology nurse! She had photos on social media of her cheek to cheek with non-family attendees at their 4th of July party. But the age 50-ish nurse was wearing a Happy 4th of July plastic glitter crown, so I guess she has superpowers to protect everyone.
Common sense is not common.
An oncology nurse who gets it and doesn’t know could very easily kill all of her patients. How f’ing selfish.
Someone invited my 70 year old parents to a graduation party. Thankfully they aren’t going, but WTF.
Lucy, you are right. She should be fired. I knew her I would call her hospital and let them know, that is utterly heinous.
The nurse posted photos to social media, but now that I think about it, the photos did not show the lineup of cars and most attendees that neighbors saw for most of the day.
A college friend of my husband’s threw a 40 person birthday party for his 2 year old over the past weekend where masks were “optional”. (They’d invited 60 people.) He has a Phd in Biology and his wife is a post partum RN at a local hospital. There are no words.
In a city just outside of Toronto a 48 year old man held a birthday party for himself over the weekend. The police were called by concerned citizens. The police estimated over 200 people were in attendance !!! He is now facing a $100 000 fine. Moron.
This pandemic is showing the stupidity of MANY. They come in all ages, races, and genders. The history books will be filled with stories of stupidity that will make the future generation shiver and shake their heads.
We are going to visit my parents who we have not seen since Christmas next week. My father suddenly decided it would be a great idea to invite family for a months-late birthday party. There will not be 200 people, rather 15 or so, but it was not my intention to come and be stuck with a bigger group of people. My parents did really well socially distancing and wearing masks in the past months but since there are no cases in their area anymore they start taking risks. Meh.
A wide swath of Americans just don’t believe that personal responsibility applies to them. I work in rental housing, and every week (especially now with colleges close to starting up again) our properties get peppered with questions about what steps they are taking to keep residents from getting COVID as if what we do is all the precautions they have to take. I’m dumbfounded by the frequency we have to remind people no amount of scrubbing elevator buttons we do is going to make a difference if they go large gatherings or their college age children go to parties like the one described above.
I think this is what happens when capitalism completely and totally takes over a society. It leaves no room for any concept of collective action, of working together for some kind of shared benefit, of giving something up in order to ensure that less privileged people have the basics. At this point, everything in our American society is designed (after decades of conservative legislation at every level of government to defund social safety nets and privatize public infrastructure) to enshrine the individual as the primary unit. Individual rights take precedence over shared community obligations. Individuals are blamed if they’re poor, rewarded if they’re rich–with no regard for the systems of oppression (racism, sexism, etc.) that limit social mobility and opportunity.
When that’s the sea we all are forced to swim in, and when any kind of collective responsibility or safety net or tax to improve shared public institutions is called “communism”, then this is where we end up. With a complete inability for most Americans to even have the vocabulary to talk about shared commitments to the community they belong to, shared burdens to make the weight lighter for those who most need help….
This is the libertarian, capitalist nightmare the conservatives have been wanting since FDR left office and they started trying to claw back social support programs.
It’s a dystopian hell with every man for himself, but at least we have two hundred cereal brands we can pick from.
” Individual rights take precedence over shared community obligations. Individuals are blamed if they’re poor, rewarded if they’re rich–with no regard for the systems of oppression (racism, sexism, etc.) that limit social mobility and opportunity.”
That’s a good point, Lindy. I’ve been wondering why America has been so insistent on individual rights and freedoms and I’ve been linking it in my head to American exceptionalism, but I think you’ve gotten to the core of it there.
I was thinking the other day about the rationing stamps my mom has at her house that came from our grandparents. Americans cut back for the greater good during WWII. Can you imagine how MAGAs would react if they were told they had to reduce consumption because of an emergency? Our citizens will not sacrifice for the common good, no matter how dire the circumstances.
MAGAs love the Nazi. They probably would have left their lights on during a blackout so Nazi planes could have bombed the crap out of their communities. Current generations have no idea of the sacrifice of The Greatest Generation. My heart weeps that my grandparents sacrificed so much for these entitles twits.
One of the best analogies I saw for this time is the London blackouts during WW2. No one screamed “I have the right to leave my light on!” then, but that’s essentially what we’re doing now. I hate people.
Great summary of our current state.
We don’t fully understand what happens to a body post Covid. There are some lasting effects that have been observed, so this is extra dangerous.
How will these parents feel if their children have mental deficits after this? I get playing risky with your own body, but to allow your children to do so is just bad parenting.
Here, there and everywhere. I have an intense dislike for Airbnb. Irresponsible owners do not take responsibility for occupants. A group partied over the week-end, loud, no masks, owner refused to ask them to leave. Sheriff’s were called and they were ordered out. In CA, some are compliant, some not.
@KellyRyan – I lived through that same thing here in Dallas, TX on Saturday night. Kids all over the streets (I don’t know if there were any in the house), with not a mask or any social distancing in sight. It is astounding. Sadly, with the collective stupidity of this country, I’m sure we’ll be hearing this same story about how covid ran through a house party many many many times.
ugh, I’ve been struggling with this so much. My sister is throwing a grad party for my 17 year old niece. from my count, 17 people are invited. they are “taking precautions” by having it outdoors, keeping family groups at separate tables and those tables bringing their own food but…i really don’t feel comfortable going. i think it’s a mistake. One person has lung problems. My niece is off to school just weeks later. I’m waiting to see if layoffs are going to happen this fall where i could potentially lose my job (and health insurance) so i don’t want to risk getting sick. i feel like my sister will be upset if i don’t go but I’M ANNOYED SHE’S THROWING A PARTY DURING A PANDEMIC. how are other people handling these situations?
I say no. You have to set your own boundaries and stick to them. And you have to love yourself so you can put your health first. We are so conditioned as women, IMO, to put others first, to sacrifice. NO! Put yourself first. It’s your health, it could be your life. My answer is no. And I have no problem sticking to that. But it took me years to get to this place. You can do it, you just have to sit down and have a long talk with yourself. Trust yourself. Value yourself.
Same here. I have been down this road before with family and business social event invitations. The health of higher risk immediate family has always been more important, as inevitably someone shows up or ends up sick at/following these events.
My husband had to end up telling his mother (who guilt tripped us every year for not attending a big party with her extended family) that if she truly cared for *him*, she would not insist on our doing something we did not want to do. Once you turn it down and hold to your boundaries, it’s actually an empowering feeling.
@Jodi – Read the recent story about the “small” 30th birthday party in Texas that led to 18 family members becoming ill because of one attendee with a “little cough”. One family member who was taking chemo stayed outside, away from everyone, and ended up hospitalized.
Here in New York in Westchester County we had a similar situation with a party where no one wanted to speak with the tracers.
The health department simply said speak with us now or the subpoenas will be issued.
Needless to say the subpoenas issued and they started singing like canaries.
Pussyfooting around is not going to get anybody to play ball. Do what you must to get them to speak and if it includes legal Avenues so be it
We had a similar party in the Kansas City metro. Hundreds of kids, as I understand. To me, this is a great litmus test for what will happen in middle and high schools when we go back to school. Even with teachers enforcing the rules, teens will be teens. And clearly spread the virus like adults.
So my 17 year old cousin is staying with me for a bit. Her mom hasn’t let her go anywhere or see her friends since March and she was going a little stir crazy. And out of all the extended family, the younger ones at least, I’m the only one who is taking quarantine seriously. So her mom felt comfortable with them expanding their bubble and have her stay with me.
I get that teens will be teens. And I don’t have kids, but parents have to be parents too. They’re the adult.
My 16 year old was also going stir crazy. My in-laws live on a 50 acre piece of land, on a lake in the middle of nowhere. My sister-in-law and her family were also there. They left the property to get groceries and that’s about it. Hubby took the 16 year old to stay there for a few weeks – she got to see her cousins, swim and kayak, wander in the woods (and have a very normal run in with poison ivy). Just a change of scenery (and having her aunt tell her to get her shoes out of the living room instead of her mother) did her a world of good.
You are doing a great thing for your cousin. Just looking out of a different window after 4 months is helpful.