Texas Tech Dean of Students Investigating Viral ‘Coronavirus Party’ Tweet
Texas Tech University's Dean of Students said Sunday evening that it was looking into a video related to COVID-19 that was brought to their attention.
In a tweet, the Dean of Students said that "the matter is being addressed by the Office of the Dean of Students and Student Conduct."
While the Dean of Students did not share or provide more details about the video in question, it is believed to be the one below, which went viral over the weekend. The video, which had been viewed more than 760,000 times by Monday morning (Sept. 7th), was posted by Taylor Smith on Twitter. It's a recording of a Snapchat video on her phone.
(Warning: Graphic language)
In the video, a young girl says to the camera: "Everyone's like, don't you have COVID? Don't you literally have COVID? Yes, I f***ing have COVID. The whole f***ing world has COVID. All of these people have COVID. So stop getting on my tip, stop getting on my tip, like, I'm having a good time. Thank you!"
There is currently no evidence that the video involves Texas Tech students or was shot in Lubbock.
Texas Tech President Dr. Lawrence Schovanec last week penned a letter to the student body urging them to follow the school's COVID-19 protocols to help reduce the spread of the virus. Dr. Schovanec added that "significant adjustments" to reopening plans would be implemented if the school's case count continued to rise.
Dr. Schovanec pointed to off-campus parties and events as the reason for a surge in cases among students. On Sept. 3rd, there were 477 active cases of COVID-19 at Texas Tech University. That's after two weeks of classes.