Singer's Decision to Catch COVID on Purpose Kills Her

A 57-year-old singer in the Czech Republic has died of COVID, and the story is getting international press thanks to one detail: the admission that Hana Horka contracted COVID intentionally. The BBC reports Horka was unvaccinated. Her husband and son were fully vaccinated but both tested positive for COVID over Christmas. "She should have isolated for a week because we tested positive. But she was with us the whole time," son Jan Rek said, explaining that she intentionally chose to expose herself to the virus in hopes of getting it, so that she could gain access to a wider range of venues. The Czech Republic requires proof of vaccination or recent infection to enter many entertainment venues.

Last Friday Horka, a member of the folk group Asonance, posted on social media that she had intentionally caught COVID and was recovering, Newsweek reports. "I survived ... It was intense," she wrote. "So now there will be the theater, sauna, a concert ... and an urgent trip to the sea. Life is here for me and for you too." Two days later, she died. Her son says she was feeling well enough to get dressed to take a walk on Sunday, but experienced back pain that caused her to go back to bed. "In about 10 minutes it was all over," Rek said. "She choked to death." Radio Prague International reports Rek said he and his father tried repeatedly to convince Horka to get vaccinated. "It is sad that my mom trusted strangers more than her own family,” he said in apparent reference to the anti-vaxxers she trusted. (More COVID-19 stories.)