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| - Fact Check: Covid parties may be happening, but this is something else!
An image of a group of youths drinking from a sangria bucket is circulating on social media with the claim that this how Covid parties are being held in Alabama.
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India Today Fact Check
This is an old picture from Spain showing a group of youths drinking alcohol from a sangria bucket in Ballermann style. There have been reports of 'Covid-19 parties' in Alabama, but their details are sketchy.
Recently, there have been shocking reports of college students in Alabama, United States, throwing 'Covid-19' parties. Apparently, an infected person is called to the party, along with uninfected ones, and bets are placed on who gets to contract the disease first.
In this context, an image of a group of youths drinking from a sangria bucket is circulating on social media with the claim that this how Covid parties are being held. Text superimposed on the picture reads, "Colleges students in Alabama are throwing 'COVID19 parties' to see who can catch the virus first. They are intentionally inviting those who have tested positive for COVID-19 and taking bets on who gets the virus first."
India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) has found the post to be misleading. It is an old picture from Spain showing a group of youths drinking alcohol from a sangria bucket in Ballermann style. There have been reports of 'Covid-19 parties' in Alabama, but their details are sketchy.
The archived version of the post can be seen here.
AFWA probe
Reverse-searching the viral image, we found that the original picture was carried by a news article published in 2007 on Mallorca Island, a holiday destination in Spain.
The article says that the sangria bucket with one-metre straws is a must for many holidaymakers here. Hence, the viral image must have been shot from a Ballermann bar in Mallorca in 2007 or even before that.
We also found a local news report on how hundreds of German vacationers celebrated at the Ballermann party strip this month without masks and social distancing. However, we could not find any report linking college students from Alabama to these parties.
Covid parties: Rumour or reality?
Several media organisations, including "The Guardian" had reported about the death of a 30-year-old man after attending a 'Covid party' in Texas.
We found an "ABC News" report where the city councilor of Tuscaloosa in Alabama, Sonya McKinstry, confirmed that Covid parties were indeed being held. "Students have been organising Covid parties as a game to intentionally infect each other with the contagion," she was quoted in the article.
The University of Alabama also tweeted on the matter. The university said though they are aware of rumours about Covid parties, they could not identify any student who attended such a party.
We have been aware for weeks of the rumors about COVID parties. We conducted a thorough investigation, + although we have been unable to identify any students who may have participated in these types of activities, we will continue to follow up on any information we receive
[1/3]— The Univ. of Alabama (@UofAlabama) July 2, 2020
However, there are not many credible details regarding these Covid parties. No media organisation has reported where exactly and how these parties were thrown.
Searching on Instagram with the keyword #covidparty, we found a few posts from US users which were mostly jamming sessions at pubs and beaches.
Therefore, we can conclude that though there have been vague reports of college students in Alabama throwing Covid parties, the viral image has nothing to do with it. The picture is more than a decade old from Spain's Mallorca Island.
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