Photo: TikTok
Shockingly some people think this is a good idea!
By Isaac Serna-Diez — Written on Jan 12, 2022
With the Omicron variant raging around the world and setting a record amount of cases and breakthrough cases in the United States alone — 132,646 people hospitalized and 1,483,656 new infections for single day cases — an Australian bride-to-be had different plans for the virus.
According to a now-deleted TikTok from the account @maddysmart31, an Australian bride-to-be went out to a nightclub with her friends with one goal over a month before her big day.
The bride in Australia was deliberately trying to catch COVID before her wedding.
The now-deleted TikTok from Maddy Smart racked up over 120,000 views before being deleted was titled “Catch COVID not feelings,” and had the caption “POV your wedding is in 6 weeks and you still haven’t had COVID.”
The 15-second clip showed her friend at a Melbourne nightclub hugging and sharing drinks with many men and women in her attempts to catch the virus preemptively before potentially getting sick on her big day.
Victoria, the Australian state that Melbourne resides in, had just announced that starting on January 12th, it would be closing all indoor dance floors to everyone, except wedding parties, in order to slow the spread of the new Omicron variant.
Fortunately for this bride, she got out just in time before the clubs closed and was able to increase her chances of catching the virus — an unusual method which many people praised her for.
“Yasss!! Feb 5th bride and I feel this on so many levels,” said one of the comments on the video who also claimed to be getting married soon, while another person wrote, “I feel you sis.”
Unsurprisingly, there were those who also disagreed with the strategy and condemned the woman’s actions.
“Sucks to be a healthcare worker watching this,” lamented one detractor, and even “Love Island’s” Season 3 contestant Ryan Reid chimed in, saying “I was so confused.”
However, this strategy might not be as smart as some people seem to be believing it is.
In a fireside chat with the Center For Strategic & International Studies, Dr. Anthony Fauci talked about the Omicron variant and the progression of the COVID virus.
“I think, in many respects, Omicron, with its extraordinary, unprecedented degree of efficiency of transmissibility, will, ultimately, find just about everybody,” he said during the interview on Tuesday.
In many respects, Fauci’s assessment seems to be coming true with the way that the Omicron variant has been seemingly spreading to anyone and everyone
Disease experts have been monitoring the Omicron variant and studying the differences between this new outbreak and the Delta variant — urging those to stay away from getting infected deliberately.
“People trying to get this virus when it's still possible to ride through this wave without being infected isn't wise,” epidemiologist Dr. Catherine Bennett told Daily Mail Australia last week.
“We're hearing lots of people say ‘it might be mild’ but it's actually really terrible, so if you can avoid it, do,” she said.
According to a study by Imperial College London that was based on UK Health Security Agency and National Health Service data, the Omicron variant is five times more likely to reinfect individuals who have already had COVID than Delta.
That means, that even if this bride were to come out positive from her strategy, she could very well still get infected by the time her wedding rolls around.
Isaac Serna-Diez is a writer who focuses on entertainment and news, social justice, and politics. Follow him on Twitter here.