As Millennials Ignore Virus Warnings, Surgeon General Turns to Social Media Stars

Ask not what your social media following can do for you, but what your social media following can do for the country.

That seems to be the message from Surgeon General Jerome Adams this week, as he asked some of the internet’s most popular people to help spread the word about coronavirus and the precautions that should be taken.

Speaking on ABC’s Good Morning America, Dr. Jerome Adams said influencers like Kylie Jenner, Kevin Durant, and Donovan Mitchell play an important role in getting the message out to millennials.

“We need to get our social media influencers out there and helping folks understand that, look, this is serious. This is absolutely serious. People are dying,” Dr. Adam said Thursday. He added that new data from Italy show that younger people may be at higher risk than originally thought.

“But think about your grandmother, think about your grandfather, think about the fact you’re spreading a disease which could ultimately be what kills them.”

And while this may seem a bit silly on the surface, the move comes after a disturbing video started making the rounds this week in which spring breakers in South Florida arrogantly dismissed concerns over the global pandemic.

“If I get corona, I get corona. At the end of the day, I'm not gonna let it stop me from partying”: Spring breakers are still flocking to Miami, despite coronavirus warnings. https://t.co/KoYKI8zNDH pic.twitter.com/rfPfea1LrC

— CBS News (@CBSNews) March 18, 2020

The millennial generation already has a fairly severe PR problem; they don’t also need to be the generation responsible for tens of thousands of additional cases of COVID-19.