Fourteen members of a Texas family have tested positive for the coronavirus following a party last month, with one dead and another on life support, according to a report.
Tony Green, the Dallas man who hosted the party and believed the global pandemic was a hoax, called the cluster of infections “a harsh lesson in the reality of COVID-19,” NBC News reported.
“In great haste, I began prognosticating the alphabet soup about this ‘scamdemic,'” Green said in a column in the Dallas Voice. “I believed the virus to be a hoax. I believed the mainstream media and the Democrats were using it to create panic, crash the economy and destroy Trump’s chances at re-election.”
“I am calling myself out first, but now this is personal, and I fell on my sword,” he wrote. “And I promise you, if we continue being more worried about the disruption to our lives than we are about stopping this virus, not one American will be spared.”
Green’s epiphany followed a June 13 party to celebrate the birth of a grandson in the family.
Green, 43, who says he is “a gay conservative,” hosted the party with his partner — where neither they nor their parents wore masks. The following day Green woke up feeling sick, and within two days so were his partner and his parents.
Within days, his mother-in-law and sister-in-law also got sick, as did the parents of the newborn who was the reason for the bash.
Green and his partner’s father, Rafael Ceja, were finally admitted to the hospital on June 24, and, later, so was Ceja’s mother — who died of the deadly bug on July 2 in the hospital room next to her son, NBC said.
Ceja, meanwhile, was put on life support, the outlet said.
“I cannot help but feel responsible for convincing our families it was safe to have a get-together,” Green said. “There’s a lot of things that I would have done differently.”
Green tried to make good by creating a GoFundMe page to raise funds for the family — but it wasn’t welcome.
“It is with heavy heart and deep regret but I must inform each contributor that I am compelled to end this fundraiser and refund each donor,” he wrote on the page. “I have tried to act honorably — serving in the best interests of Rafael & Marisa — nobody else.”
“Unfortunately, others — within the family — are displeased with my attempts to provide additional love, support, prayers, and financial contributions in their time of need,” he wrote. “Because of their continuous harassment and vindictive behavior (against my advice) Marisa now refuses to accept this money.”