Gay guy with suspected COVID-19 causes outrage by visiting Fire Island NY

[andy]

Revellers attending parties on Fire Island, NY, over the July 4 weekend have prompted widespread condemnation online. Videos posted on social media showed little sign of social distancing and very few face coverings. Fire Island Pines is a resort traditionally very popular with gay men, many of whom travel from New York City.

Much of the fury has been directed toward one man in particular. Corey Hannon, 27, posted a video to his Instagram stories in which he suggested he had symptoms of COVID-19. He thought he’d recovered and so decided to join other party-seekers on Fire Island. However, once there, he began to feel unwell again.

The story was screen captured by others and reposted to Twitter. Filmed on the beach, Hannon’s accompanying caption said, ‘I wanna Kiki but my body says, nope not yet… thought the covid was gone.”

Hannon had previously talked about his battle with suspected COVID-19 on his Facebook page.

After his beach visit story began to go viral. Hannon posted a further video blasting all those criticising him. Again, this was captured and re-shared on Twitter.

‘You know what, I did have COVID,” Hannon says on the video. “Everyone knows I had COVID. And you know what I did? I sat in my fucking bedroom quarantining myself for eight days and suffered through COVID, and now I’m out celebrating, so go fuck yourself.” He quickly deleted the video from his Instagram.

As online condemnation grew, Hannon posted a 7-minute long video to his Facebook page on Sunday evening to apologise and explain himself further. He now says he has yet to have received the results of a COVID-19 test so does not know for sure if he had it.

Hannon apologised for the first apology video, which he said was sent to a mutual friend and was a result of, “bad humour between two friends… I never meant for it to make it to my story. I am terribly sorry this happened. I would never go out there and righteously infect people.

“I apologise that I went out, maybe too early. I am a human being. I made a mistake and I am sincerely sorry for that.”

Hannon went on to explain the timeline of feeling ill. He said he began to feel unwell on June 22. Following advice from a physician, he stayed home and self-isolated.

After he began to feel better, he had a COVID-19 test on June 30. He was warned the results could take 7-10 days. Feeling better, he went to get a spray tan in New Jersey on July 3, and then to Fire Island July 4, approximately 12 days after first experiencing symptoms of illness. He has yet to receive the results of the test.

“I would never go out and maliciously infect people. I’m not a murderer. I’m not a bad person … These videos were never supposed to be leaked. I apologise if you think I’m a bad person because of this. I made a mistake and am now paying the price, unfortunately.”

He goes on to criticise “cancel culture”, saying he has received death threats, had woken up with reporters outside his house and had been booed off a train earlier. He repeats several times he is sorry that he went out and potentially infected people, and that he felt ashamed over his actions.

“For those of you who are part of the news, CNN reached out to me this morning, I have no comment. This [Facebook video] is my comment. This is my apology.”

The video has prompted over a thousand comments at the time of writing – many condemning Hannon for his actions.

Others have pointed out Hannon, although knowing he was potentially recovering from COVID-19, was far from alone in not adhering to social distancing guidance.

Someone else who appears to have been present in Fire Island over the weekend posted to his Instagram, “F**k Your mask. F**k your social distancing. F**k your vaccine. F**k your eugenics. Kiss my a**hole if you think Im an ass??‍♂️

According to the Daily Mail, officers from the Suffolk County Police Department were called to the beach in Fire Island Pines twice on Saturday over reports of large numbers of people partying.

The Fire Island Pines Property Owners Association sent a message to local residents and urged them to contact authorities if they had concerns over people flouting social distancing guidelines.

“With the unexpected parties in our community over this past weekend, I want to reassure you that FIPPOA has working with State and local officials to keep the community safe. We are extremely concerned about the health of our residents in the Pines. We are distressed by the irresponsible behaviour of some residents and visitors. We need your help. If you see something, say something. We urge you to report large gatherings immediately to 911.”

On Sunday, New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo reminded local governments to continue to enforce social distancing measures.

“As we end this holiday weekend, I urge everyone to be New York Tough: wear a mask, socially distance, use hand sanitiser and continue the smart practices that have made our state a national leader in combating this virus,” Cuomo said. “I also remind local governments of their duty to enforce the standards that have made [New York’s] reopening safe and successful.”

[InbetweenDreams]

TL;DL but why...why is our country full of idiots. Want to go to the beach, want to do something, fine but stay away from the large groups. I wonder how many of those people will be testing positive with COVID-19 in a couple weeks. The very reason why we have to have the government do stuff like shutdown businesses and mandate masks and so on (in addition to Trumps slow lumbering response) is because people here can't do anything simple like wear a mask and not be in large gatherings. I really believe that I'm not just being cynical thinking everyone is stupid, everyone actually is.

[eastofeden]

I have no words.

On another note - I had no idea how many sociopaths and narcissists walk among us.

I don't know why but for some reason I thought it was just a relative handful of people - now I think something very different.

I am glad I didn't notice before this year.

[CellarDweller]

and you just know that when the spike in cases happen, the LGBT community will get the blame.

[InbetweenDreams]

@eastofeden we truly don't know how many people are, but it is looking like it is more than just a small minority. I don't know that it is that people are narcissistic necessarily as they are just dumb...but with other recent events it would seem that somehow our society has made people more narcissistic and self serving. It is really depressing, between COVID-19 and all the other stuff going on. Talk about one big shit sandwich.

Things will get better though.