Pox party

[9][10] Parents who expose their children to varicella zoster virus in this manner often do so out of the belief that acquiring immunity to chickenpox via infection is safer and more effective than receiving a vaccination.

Pediatricians have warned against holding pox parties, however, citing dangers arising from possible complications associated with chickenpox, such as encephalitis, chickenpox-associated pneumonia, and invasive group A strep.

These gatherings, as with the pox parties, were designed explicitly to allow a parent's children to contract the "swine flu" influenza virus.

[23] Researchers such as Dr. Michael Gardam noted that because the pandemic was caused by a flu subtype to which very few people were previously exposed, parents would be just as likely to contract the disease and further its spread.

In March 2020 Andy Beshear, the governor of Kentucky, reported that young people were taking part in parties and later testing positive for COVID-19.

A CNN headline on 25 March 2020 stated, "A group of young adults held a coronavirus party in Kentucky to defy orders to socially distance.

[39] An opinion piece for The New York Times by epidemiologist Greta Bauer on 8 April 2020 said she had heard "rumblings about people ... hosting a version of 'chickenpox parties'... to catch the virus".

However, according to the coroner's report, there is no mention of a COVID party but rather a church function with 100 children where she did not wear a mask and where social distancing protocols were not followed.

Rolling Stone called "shaming people on the internet for not properly socially distancing" the favorite new American pastime.

[41] Wired criticized reports on CNN and others[43] of supposed college students in Tuscaloosa, Alabama throwing parties with infected guests then betting on the contagion that ensues.

Wired says that these stories spread like a game of telephone with "loose talk from public officials and disgracefully sloppy journalism".

These stories cycle through social media, and include "poisoned Halloween candy, suicide-inducing online games, Satanists, caravans of diseased migrants, evil clowns, and many others."

Other childhood diseases such as chickenpox and measles in years before vaccines to prevent these illnesses, some parents would hold 'pox parties' which Radford claims are still "often promoted by anti-vaccination groups".

[28] On 10 July 2020, a WOAI-TV station from San Antonio, Texas ran a story interviewing the Chief Medical Officer of Methodist Healthcare, Dr. Jane Appleby, who according to WOAI said she had heard from someone that a patient told their nurse right before dying that they had attended a COVID party to see if the virus was real or not, and now they regretted attending the party.

[29] The TV series South Park ("Chickenpox") and The Simpsons ("Milhouse of Sand and Fog") each aired an episode featuring a pox party intended to spread varicella.