Jerome Adams, U.S. surgeon general, calls on celebrities to get the word out about coronavirus

U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams on Thursday called on celebrities and social media “influencers” to get the word out to young people who might be shrugging off the dangers of the coronavirus.

“What I really think we need to do … [is] get our influencers — [NBA players] Kevin Durant, Donovan Mitchell, we need to get Kylie Jenner, we need to get our social media influencers out there and helping folks understand that look, this is serious,” Dr. Adams said on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

“This is absolutely serious. People are dying,” he said. “We again are seeing new data emerging from Italy that suggests that young people may be at higher risk in different situations than what we previously thought,” he said.

“Stay off the beaches,” Dr. Adams said.

His comments came as people continued to flock to places such as Miami for spring break despite warnings against congregating in groups of more than 10 people.

“If I get corona, I get corona,” Brady Sluder, an Ohio man vacationing in Florida, told Reuters. “At the end of the day, I’m not going to let it stop me from partying.”