Is this the end OF THE INFLUENCER?
Arielle Charnas had a cold. Nothing too serious, really, but the symptoms were there: fever, sore throat and a headache. So the American lifestyle influencer known as “Something Navy” announced to her 1.3 million followers that she was going to get tested for coronavirus.
It was March 16, and the tally of COVID-19 infections and deaths outside China had just surpassed those inside China. Charnas shared the swab on her Instagram stories. At the time, the US was administering only about 14,000 tests a day. But Charnas got one, and she tagged the doctor in her posts. She then shared a Louis Vuitton ‘unboxing’ before revealing she had tested positive for COVID-19. Together with her husband and two young daughters, she fled New York for the Hamptons, bringing their nanny along too. It was the vintage rattan straw that broke the camel’s back. Her behaviour went viral: the called her a “Covidiot” for flaunting her privilege in obtaining a scarce test for breaking quarantine to leave the city. On April 2,
