Influencer hospitalised after doing the 'coronavirus challenge'

Photo credit: CamiloTorres - Getty Images
Photo credit: CamiloTorres - Getty Images

From Cosmopolitan

While the majority of us are making as much effort as possible to stick to the new government rules, implemented to help slow the spread of coronavirus, some people have sadly seen the tragic pandemic as an excuse to boost their social media followings.

Social media 'challenges' are nothing new (remember when everyone tipped buckets of ice over one another's heads, to raise money and awareness for ALS, a neurodegenerative disease?), but this new one is really quite gross (and selfish). The coronavirus challenge has seen people licking poles on public transport, toilets and other typically 'dirty' surfaces too, in an effort to... look cool/hard? Or, if you ask our opinion, completely and utterly lame.

One such participant in the challenge is Cody Pfister, an American man, who posted a video of himself licking bottles of lotion and deodorant on a supermarket shelf. However, that's really come back to bite him on the butt, as he's since been arrested with making a terrorism threat. He can also reportedly be heard saying, "Who’s afraid of coronavirus?" in the footage.

Court documents reportedly say Pfister ‘knowingly caused a false belief or fear that a condition involving danger to life existed’ and accuse him of acting with ‘reckless disregard of the risk causing the evacuation, quarantine or closure of any portion’, according to local media.

Another coronavirus challenge participant, an influencer known as Larz, has reportedly contracted the virus, after licking a toilet bowl. It's reported by the Daily Mail that he posted a video of himself in hospital from his Twitter account @GayShawnMendes, which has since been suspended.

So, just in case anybody needed a reminder on why it's important to observe strict hygiene standards during this time (and to NOT LICK TOILET SEATS), then let it be this. Please.

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