- A Facebook video shows college students partying on a 250-person "booze cruise" in Nassau, Bahamas, in the midst of the coronavirus outbreak.
- Despite the US government's request to limit social gatherings of over 10 people, not all young people have taken advice about "social distancing" seriously.
- Jake Jacobsen, vice president of STS Travel, told Business Insider that only 20% of its customers had canceled their traveling plans after the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus a global pandemic.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, college kids are partying on boats packed with booze and people.
A video on Facebook, posted by STS Travel, or Student Travel Services, reveals a group of 250 college kids, the majority US citizens, partying on a "booze cruise" in Nassau, Bahamas. The cruise took place on March 16 - just one day after the island country's first confirmed case of coronavirus.
Jake Jacobsen, vice president of STS Travel, told Business Insider that only 20% of the company's customers, who typically range from ages 20 to 23, canceled their traveling plans after the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus a global pandemic. The US government had requested earlier that week that citizens avoid social gatherings of over 10 people.
Minimizing crowds of people is an important step in preventing the spread of coronavirus, as even low-risk groups like young, healthy people can become infected with it without showing any symptoms.
But it's not just STS Travel customers ignoring social distancing advice. Spring breakers across the country are packing beaches. In fact, as Business Insider's Hillary Hoffower reported, As of March 14, Miami Beach had to resort to temporarily shutting down its most popular beach and implementing an 11:00 pm curfew in efforts to contain the virus.
STS Travel hosts spring break programs in Cancún, Cabo, Jamaica, and Punta Cana. Nassau is its most popular.
This particular "booze cruise," called The Blackbeard's Revenge Cruise, was the last cruise of the Nassau 2020 program. In light of the coronavirus, STS Travel limited the number of passengers on the boat to 250 people, around half of the typical amount.
According to Jacobsen, students will be heading back home from Nassau this week. And while the coronavirus continues to spread across the globe, it's not the outbreak they are most concerned about.
"We've been on the phone speaking to people all weekend and the concern wasn't so much the virus itself, the concern was people getting back into the US. That was the biggest fear," he said.
However, as of now, the US travel ban will not impact the students traveling back from the Bahamas.
Jacobsen said he is expecting around 90% of the bookings for the next two weeks at STS Travel's other destinations to cancel. The spring break rush is ending, he added.