1/5 At least 25 people in WA State got sick after mingling with an infected person at #coronavirus parties. It’s not the first time Americans have experimented with self-infection to try to attain “natural immunity.” There are #LessonsFromHistory. 
2/5 In 2009, “swine flu parties” were in vogue, and CDC issued a warning: “While the disease...has been mild for many people, it has been severe, even fatal for others. There is no way to predict with certainty.”
3/5 Before a vaccine came along in 1995, there were “chickenpox parties.” But later, there were news reports of anti-vaccination parents allowing kids to share sippy cups, whistles and lollipops to expose their children to the virus.
4/5 During the 2019 measles outbreak in New York, city officials had to quash the idea of “measles parties” among parents with unvaccinated kids, calling the practice “very dangerous.”
5/5 Contracting measles or chickenpox usually conveys immunity. But scientists don’t know if immunity is a definite w/ Covid-19. Given that partygoers could spread the virus beyond themselves, health officials are calling infection parties “irresponsible.”
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