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Risky behavior endangers more than just oneself

It is difficult, frankly, to view people refusing to join the rest of us in attempting to contain the COVID-19 coronavirus as anything but spoiled brats. The vast majority of them appear to be young. We see some particularly disturbing and infuriating news coming from abroad.

In Germany, young adults “hold ‘corona parties’ and cough toward older people,” The Associated Press has reported.

Other hard-hit countries report widespread failure to follow the disease containment rules — though not to the extent seen in Germany. Both France and Spain are having police enforce bans on large gatherings.

As we have seen here, the situation sometimes requires government to intervene. Florida’s governor had to formally close the state’s beaches to clear them of partying college students on spring break.

COVID-19 is dangerous primarily to older people with underlying medical conditions. But, as public health officials point out, younger adults are far from immune. The disease strikes them, too.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo noted that half his state’s COVID-19 cases are in the 18-49 age group. “You’re not Superman and you’re not Superwoman,” he warned young people.

Containing COVID-19 is an imperative if we are to avoid the enormous death toll experienced in other countries. In Italy, where public health officials were slow to act, the death toll passed 10,000 during the weekend — a number that had doubled in one week.

We hope all Americans — and it needs to be emphasized not all the scoffers are college-age — will get the message and stop engaging in risky behavior. If that does not occur, however, local, state and federal officials may need to consider the use of law enforcement to make social distancing stick.

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