Man dies in Texas hospital after attending ‘COVID party’

A 30-year-old man died Friday in a Texas hospital after being infected with the coronavirus at a “COVID party.”

To test whether the virus is real, the man intentionally tried to catch COVID-19 by attending the meeting with an infected person, the New York Times reported.

The man’s last words just before he died at San Antonio Methodist Hospital were: “I think I made a mistake. I thought it was a hoax, but it isn’t,” according to the New York Times.

The identity of the man has not been made public. Additional details about his death, including the number of people who attended the party and how long he was hospitalized with COVID-19, are also not available at this time.

Dr. Jane Appleby, medical director of the Methodist Hospital in San Antonio, said she was sharing the story of the Texas man’s death to warn others.

Although “coronavirus parties” have been reported in states like Washington, Kentucky, and Alabama, some experts and public officials are skeptical that the parties are real.

On Sunday, Texas experienced the eleventh largest increase in a single day in confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic began. Statewide, cases increased 2.73 percent for a total of 262,753 cases, according to an analysis by the Houston Chronicle. An additional 57 new deaths were reported, bringing the state’s death count to 3,213.

The count for the Houston region increased 2.56 percent to 63,864 total cases. Four additional deaths were reported; The region’s death count is now 646.