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I wrote about influencers fleeing NYC for greener pastures https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/02/style/influencers-leave-new-york-coronavirus.html
I've been reporting on Arielle Charnas' COVID-19 drama for weeks since it all kicked off. You can read what I wrote abt Arielle's testing stuff here more than 2 weeks ago, I interviewed her doctor https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/18/us/coronavirus-testing-elite.html
Backlash her and other influencers peaked in the past week after Naomi Davis, a New York City lifestyle blogger known online as Taza, shared that she and her family were also leaving the city and “heading west” in an RV. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/02/style/influencers-leave-new-york-coronavirus.html
Read @stephemcneal's piece on that here https://twitter.com/stephemcneal/status/1244669847012810753
Then food blogger Ali Maffucci also left the New York metropolitan area for Florida with her family. She said that none of them are symptomatic, but she believes that people in her building may be sick so she wanted to escape. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/02/style/influencers-leave-new-york-coronavirus.html
All of this lead to vicious hate, and both Arielle and Ms. Maffucci have since apologized (Mafucci also deleted her Instagram post). https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/02/style/influencers-leave-new-york-coronavirus.html
We're all making tough choices right now, and I'm sympathetic to the fact that some of these influencers didn't realize exactly why their decisions were so dangerous. I spoke to many doctors/public health too about why influencers decisions were wrong (several quoted in my piece)
The primary issue many medical experts take issue with is not the influencers’ decision to leave the city against public health guidelines, but that they’re promoting this message to potentially millions of people https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/02/style/influencers-leave-new-york-coronavirus.html
Throughout all this we shouldn't forget that while influencers can serve as a punching bag for the internet, rich/privileged ppl all over are making similarly dangerous decisions to thwart public health guidelines and they too should be held accountable https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/02/style/influencers-leave-new-york-coronavirus.html
Now another lifestyle influencer Morgan Matkovic, has fled for Santa Barbara. When followers expressed concern for her flagrant violation of CDC guidelines, she began lashing out and deleting comments, saying she “flew private” so can do whatever she wants https://www.instagram.com/p/B-fiD3PF--x/
The issue with influencers posting things like this to millions of ppl is not just that they're endangering those directly around them it's that they're normalizing highly irresponsible behavior to masses of ppl who look to them for guidance on how to live https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/02/style/influencers-leave-new-york-coronavirus.html
This one influencer is now watching all my old TV hits and reposting a time when I coughed on camera months ago implying it’s as bad as her..... fleeing cross country from NYC in the midst of a pandemic and calling ppl who criticize this decision “haters” https://www.instagram.com/p/B-fiD3PF--x/
Also this influencer used to date Jon Gosselin, which tells you a lot about her decision making skills I guess. https://people.com/celebrity/five-things-to-know-about-jon-gosselins-new-girlfriend/?amp=true
Reading these comments on posts of influencers announcing their cross country travel from NYC in the midst of a pandemic makes me pretty sure we are all gonna die. https://www.instagram.com/p/B-fiD3PF--x/
