Parents and students DEFEND University of Texas sorority sisters who ignored health advice and traveled on a chartered jet to Mexico spring break trip where 53 people got coronavirus
Parents and students have defended University of Texas, Austin, students against harsh backlash they have received since a spring break trip to Cabo San Lucas left 53 people infected with coronavirus.
Supporters have responded to critics and threatened to call the cops on anyone who has targeted the group with angry messages on social media.
In total 211 students, all in their 20s, traveled to Cabo San Lucas between March 14 and March 19 using both private and commercial flights.
The university's West Campus outside of Austin is now a coronavirus hotspot after 53 members of the group tested positive when they returned to the United States.
The backlash was swift with actor Matthew McConaughey recording a video urging the students to place themselves into quarantine and saying he was 'sorry you’ve got these responsibilities on you at this time'.
The Austin group, dubbed the Cabo 211, is the largest identified group of infections among college students who ignored social-distancing guidelines of Spring Break.
A University of Texas student commented on this picture of a sorority sister who went on Spring Break to Cabo criticizing the decision to do so. The sorority member's mother contacted the student to inform them she told the police about the comment and that none of the sorority had tested positive for coronavirus or chartered a plane to Mexico
In a separate incident, social media users were sent this message defending the Texas Theta sorority and claiming that reports of their Spring Break trip to Mexico were inaccurate
The University of Texas had canceled classes on March 13 and instruction resumed online after Spring Break.
By the time the UT students headed to Cabo, not only had the campus been shutdown and all programs abroad canceled but the City of Austin had already declared a local state of emergency.
Within two weeks of their return, the university’s west campus was identified as a hotspot and harsh criticism was left under the social media posts from the students' vacation.
Students who remained at home or had canceled their Spring Break plans were angered as the outbreak worsened because of the actions of other students.
University of Texas professor and actor Matthew McConaughey was forced to intervene as the heated debate continued, posting a video on April 2, just after it first emerged that students on the trip were beginning to test positive.
‘The youth in the city of Austin, all the students at the University of Texas, the virus has come on and you’ve been asked to grow up sooner than you thought you were going to have to,’ he said.
‘You’ve had responsibilities laid on your lap that you didn’t bargain for. You just went off to Spring Break, you got back with a tan, you feel great. What’s wrong with that? Not blaming any of that.
‘But no matter how good you feel right now, stay home if you can. I’m sorry you’ve got these responsibilities on you at this time,' he added.
'It’s an unprecedented time in all our lives but face the facts that they’re here. This is a science-fiction film no more. It’s reality, man. Deal with it. Please, we need you to and you need us to. Please.’
This tweet claimed the sorority house was spay painted with 'eat the rich'
University of Texas professor and actor Matthew McConaughey published this video on April 2 in which he urged the students who went on the trip to stay home
Other students complained on social media that the group sparked an outbreak on campus
Other UT students were frustrated that not enough information was being provided over where the Cabo 211 traveled to after their trip.
‘As a UT student I can tell UT will answer none of these questions,’ one wrote.
‘All we got was a flimsy email saying they traveled back to different locations in the US.... but now 78705 is a COVID-19 hotspot so clearly some of them are back in West Campus.’
One detailed Twitter thread identified the impact the spring breakers could have and the harm their four-day trip could cause, stating that students were warned about the dangers of coronavirus and so ‘playing dumb isn’t gonna cut it’.
‘CABO44 potentially infected more than a million (1,049,041) people,’ they said, using figures from earlier reports that 44 were infected.
‘But how big is that you ask? The city of Austin has a population of 950,254. So pretty huge.
‘So remember your fun spring break potentially put a million people at risk. So quit complaining about cyberbullying cause going on that trip was beyond irresponsible and stay at home for gods sake.
‘Also your Instagram pictures sucked,’ they added.
On Twitter user broke down the projected coronavirus impact of the group's trip
The Twitter user explained how many people they could have now infected
A hunt immediately began to track down which students were involved after their return.
‘UT twitter on another level, they found out everyone’s names and affiliations in less than a day...’ one Twitter user wrote.
In particular, criticism was leveled against the University of Texas branch of the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority, members of which are believed to be among the students that traveled.
Members had posted pictures using the hashtag #springbreak to the account.
'When stories came out about students on a chartered plane to Cabo, everyone was like, "Who the hell are these people?"' one student told Vice.
'And then someone was like, "Hey, Texas Theta just posted all these pictures from Cabo... It's them!"'
'We had a lot of students who canceled spring break trips; I canceled mine. It seemed very clear that we shouldn't be flying, for our own safety as much as other people's safety. Seeing those Instagram pictures of people in Cabo, it's just like, compounding the issue.'
The sorority’s social media accounts have been made private after an influx of comments on their postings.
One tweet has even claimed that ‘eat the rich’ was spray painted onto the wall of the Texas Kappa Alpha Theta sorority house.
Social media users were quick to hunt down the students who were on the Mexico trip
This Twitter user was contacted by a parent of a sorority member after this tweet. She claimed that she had contacted the police and that the sorority was not involved in the outbreak
The online conflict escalated as the spring breakers began to answer back with at least one parent sending threatening messages to other young people posting about their child.
Jonathan Valadez, 18, told Vice that he received a direct message, reportedly from a parent, on Instagram after posted a tweet that read: ‘2020 sucked A-S-S, then Texas Theta and their selfish members decided to exist’.
Valadez is not a student at the university but said he has friends who attend.
'We have contacted the Austin police and our attorney!!! These Theta girls DID NOT CHARTER A PLANE!!! Our daughter has been in quarantine for 13 days now,’ the message he received read.
The same woman contacted another UT student after he commented on a picture from one of the sorority members.
'Are you aware that is [sic] was not the Texas Theta girls that chartered a plane to Cabo?’ she said.
‘Are you aware that none of the Theta girls have tested positive for corona. We have sent all the texts to Austin police.’
She has now made her profile private but the student reports that the woman had pictures with the student whose post he commented on.
'I understand mothers being protective of their daughters, but I find her reporting me to the police over an Instagram comment—that wasn't particularly threatening or insulting—a bit overkill,’ the student said.
Neither have been contacted by the Austin police since the message.
Members of the sorority themselves have responded to the social media hits as well, with one also claiming that university officials have been contacted.
'Hi. I hope you know that what you are tweeting about Texas Theta is completely wrong and will be reported for cyberbullying. We are already in contact with UT officials and have your tweets screenshotted,’ her message, sent to several Twitter users, reads.
‘I’m not sure if you think this is some kind of joke but for you to feel like you can post things like this and spread false information then you are 100% in the wrong. You should really think before you post something online because you never know how it will effect [sic] others.
‘During this time no one should be trying to bring down ANYONE. Hopefully you will learn from this mistake.’
This message was sent by a member of Texas Theta claiming comments were cyberbullying
Videos were created about the sorority member message, firing up the backlash
Social media users continued to criticize the sorority after their complaints of bullying
The Theta members were accused of racism for their response to the backlash
The message itself caused further uproar, sparking a wave of jokes about the sorority members and accusing them of racism.
‘The fact that these T*xas Th*ta girls want to instill fear and use their white privilege to silence us, mostly POC, shows that this PWI has racism so far embedded in its roots that they feel their selfishness that leads to the endangerment of everyone is meaningless. Sickening,’ said one social media user.
‘Y’all are so... LMAOOO,’ added another.
Others created TikToks, videos and memes from the message, furthering the conflict.
There was uproar in mid-March as spring breakers defied warnings issued about spread of coronavirus and continued on their traditional party holidays to locations like Mexico and Florida.
Many of the students appeared to believe that they could not catch coronavirus because they are young. Not only can coronavirus hit a person of any age but anyone can be a carrier and increase the spread.
There have been other outbreaks among spring breakers from the University of Tampa and the University of Wisconsin-Madison after their own trips.
Officials at the University of Texas say a total of 83 students at the university have tested positive or have been presumed positive for COVID-19.
Eight employees have also tested positive for the disease.
DailyMail.com reached out to the university and the Austin Police Department for comment but a representative was not available.
There are 977 confirmed coronavirus cases in Travis County, where Austin is located, and there have been 19 deaths.
Texas has 16,473 cases and the death toll in the state is 397.
Parents and students DEFEND University of Texas sorority sisters who ignored health advice and traveled on a chartered jet to Mexico spring break trip where 53 people got coronavirus
![Parents and students DEFEND University of Texas sorority sisters who ignored health advice and traveled on a chartered jet to Mexico spring break trip where 53 people got coronavirus]()
Reviewed by Your Destination
on
April 17, 2020
Rating:
No comments