Coachella 2019: Spike in Herpes cases seen in surrounding towns; infections linked to festival
A spike in the number of herpes cases was recently noted in multiple towns in California this month, including Palm Desert, Los Angeles, San Diego County, and Orange County and they had one thing in common — Coachella attendees. A significant number of people reportedly contracted herpes at the festival, which went on from April 12 to April 21, and there was a dramatic spike noted in sexual activity and demands for treatment on the festival grounds, according to TMZ.
Reports state that HerpAlert, a site which allows users to send in a photo of the condition, get a diagnosis and prescription based on the results, saw nearly 250 cases every day during the nine-day festival period on Coachella Valley. The site generally gets 12 cases of herpes every day, however, this month there were 1,105 cases reported in Indio and Coachella Valley, along with the aforementioned towns.
The site, before Coachella, had seen a slight spike in the number of cases during the Oscars weekend, where they received 60 reports of the condition in one day. However, this number is just a fraction of the 250 cases reported by HerpAlert in the first two days of the popular music festival.
After the site released its data, multiple social media users took to Twitter to express amusement and asked people to use safe practices while engaging in sexual intercourse.
Herpes is a contagious virus which results in sores, generally around the mouth or on the genitals, the virus can spread even when people are not showing any symptoms of the condition. Although the condition does not have a cure, affected patients can treat it and keep its symptoms under control. The symptoms of herpes can be better managed with immediate medical attention and treatment.
HerpAlert works off anonymous data submitted (automatically) by doctors when they filed prescriptions to pharmacies for herpes-related meds/ailments.