CNN’s Jake Tapper scolded young people and others dismissing social distancing pleas, calling the “selfishness of people who are not taking this seriously” a “maddening” display while warning younger people can still get “really, really sick” if they continue to ignore warnings from government and health officials.
The reaction from the “The Lead” anchor on Tuesday comes as photos and videos of people defying social distancing guidelines continue to circulate. One viral video from Clearwater, Fla., showed young adults out in droves on the beach while many in the country are avoiding large gatherings in an attempt to slow the transmission of the coronavirus.
“My dad is turning 80 this month, you know?” Tapper said during an interview with CNN chief medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta.
“People out there who are millennials or younger and thinking, ‘Well, if you’re 80 years old, you know, it only affects people who are in their 70s and 80s,’ which isn’t true, although, obviously, the people in their 60s, 70s and 80s are most vulnerable to it,” Tapper said. “What are you saying, that my 80-year-old dad, therefore, is fair game?”
“The selfishness of people who are not taking this seriously is — it’s just maddening,” he continued.
“I get that people don’t understand it, but what bothers me is people who think, ‘I’m young, I’m not going to die from it.’ First of all, not necessarily true,” he said. “Second of all, you could get really, really sick and you could be injured for the rest of your life with scarred lungs, and third of all, who the hell are you to be walking around just giving this to old people and you just flippantly dismiss it?”
“I still really get the impression people in many places aren’t taking this seriously,” Gupta said. “I’m worried these numbers — they keep going up.”
ABC’s Meghan McCain also railed against some “baby boomers and millennials” for their “hubris and arrogance” in ignoring the importance of social distancing on “The View” on Tuesday.
“I have been furious, furious at baby boomers and millennials … for people who would just have the hubris and arrogance to ignore what’s going on,” McCain said, adding that “people are going to die” if they continue to congregate in large groups, allowing the highly contagious virus to spread throughout communities.
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases around the world surpassed 200,000 as of Wednesday morning, according to a Johns Hopkins University database, while the U.S. death toll stood at 107, according to a New York Times tracker.