Health experts in Australia have warned against people “rolling the dice” by trying to catch Covid on purpose to speed up the inevitable and/or dodge an extended isolation period.
Currently, those who test positive for Covid are required to self-isolate and quarantine at home for at least 7 days (10 days in South Australia).
The warning comes after people have been sharing on TikTok the ways they intend on trying to catch Covid or sharing their wish to plan what date they would like to be ideally infected on for convenience.
One TikToker from Queensland who tested positive for the virus shared how her mum was desperate to catch it herself so her isolation period could begin sooner so she drank the rest of her Covid positive daughter’Orange juice.
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“When your Covid positive and mum drinks your OJ [sic] to try and get Covid ASAP so we aren’t in extended iso [sic],”TheDaily Mail Reported as the daughter can also be heard saying “happy Covid”to her mother and “bottoms up”The mother can then be seen sipping orange juice.
According to YouTube, the video was quickly removed, but it still received over 47,000 views and 1200 likes. The Australian.
There have been reports that unvaccinated people are organizing gatherings to try to catch Covid.
Queensland’s chief health officer, Dr John Gerrard, described the parties as “utterly ridiculous,” The Guardian Reported and stated: “The best way to get immunity to this virus is through vaccination not through Covid parties,”He added: “They are ridiculous, so please stop them. Please stop.”
Bruce Willett (vice president Royal Australian College of General Practitioners) echoed the sentiment and told 2GB “This sort of behaviour threatens to overwhelm medical services.”
“They will get immunity to Covid but it’s not substantially better than getting the immunisation and at an extraordinarily higher risk.”
Others have also shared their desire to obtain Covid as soon as possible, such TikToker Ben Hogan who became viral with a short video at December’s end.
In his video, the overlay text read: “Me trying to schedule catching covid into my social calendar so I don’t miss out on anything,”Hogan can be seen trying to determine the best date.
“Gotta block out a cheeky 10 say [sic] staycation,”Hogan laughed in the caption.
Hogan has had over 775,000 views since posting the video. 93,000 people liked it and more than 1000 comments from others who shared similar thoughts.
One person said: “Me planning to get it new years day so I can have a week off work.”
“I’m trying to catch it at New Years, isolate and then be out just in time for a week of friends before going back to college,”Another person wrote.
Someone else added: “Homestly [sic] this is ke [sic] right now, I just want to catch it and move on I can’t anymore,”Hogan responded: “Infect me anytime after the first of January pls :-)))”
“I’m aiming for the week before MLK Jr Day when I get the day off work so that I can still enjoy the long weekend,”A fourth person responded.
Hogan confirmed that he had tested positive for the virus in a TikTok post last week. “So, my Covid schedule is running a smidge early.”
Dr Katrina Roper, an epidemiologist at the Australian National University, has warned people against intentionally trying to catch Covid.
“From a science point of view, if a person is unvaccinated, it’s quite a risky move because you don’t know how you’re going to respond,”She shared her story News.com.au.
“If you don’t know the strain type of the virus, you could be rolling the dice that maybe you’re one of those unlucky people that ends up with a more serious form of Covid, say the Delta form and you could have a more serious illness which may not be particularly pleasant.”