There are discussions online encouraging a child infected with COVID-19 to play with healthy kids to spread the disease and in theory, build immunity.
It's called a COVID or corona mixer.
Dr. Jeffrey Kahn, an infectious disease specialist, calls it dangerous. "I can't emphasize this enough, do not do this," Dr. Kahn said.
He explains while COVID-19 is relatively uncommon in kids, it's unclear if there are long-term consequences for those exposed.
With coronavirus, there's no proof you can try to contract a mild case to avoid a more serious illness later.
"If your child gets infected, there's no guarantee that child is protected against future infection," Dr. Kahn said. "So, on just about every level, the logic behind these COVID mixers falls apart terribly."
The mixers call back to chicken pox parties when parents intentionally exposed kids to the chicken pox. But unlike chicken pox, there's no vaccine for COVID-19, and adults in the house are not immune.
"There's a wide range of severe illness that could result from these and the impact on other family members, community members, this is not a good thing to do," said Dr. Philip Huang, director at the Dallas County Health and Human Services.
Health officials warn knowingly spreading the virus can have a chain reaction with deadly consequences for everyone.
"If you're considering this, please pause and think about the implications of doing this," Dr. Kahn said. "You're going to put your child at risk, you're going to put people in your home, household at risk and potentially propagate the infection in the community."
2 Works for You checked with the Tulsa Health Department and it has not heard of any COVID mixers in Tulsa.
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