‘Coronavirus is a poor person’s virus’: Silcon Valley’s elite are throwing lavish parties where guests take 15-minute rapid COVID tests and use private jets to hop from one ‘safe’ city to the next as they ride out the pandemic
- Silicon Valley’s elite have been carrying on with their lives and socializing as if ‘everything was normal’ despite the COVID-19 pandemic, sources say
- It comes as the US continues to battle the highest number of infections globally and 1,000 Americans are still dying each day
- Sources told Vanity Fair that the luxurious lifestyles of the country’s billionaires is no different to before the pandemic broke out
- One doctor said: ‘Coronavirus is a poor person’s virus’
- Sources say Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick is among those throwing parties at his home Los Angeles
- Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg was spotted last month riding a $12,000 electric surfboard in Hawaii
- Amazon’s Jeff Bezos recently purchased a $10 million Beverly Hills home located next door to the $165 million compound he purchased just six month ago
America’s super rich are throwing parties where guests are offered 15-minute rapid COVID-19 tests and using their private jets to avoid having to stay in hotspots amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
While the US continues to battle the highest number of infections globally and 1,000 Americans are still dying each day, some say Silicon Valley’s elite have been carrying on with their lives and socializing as if ‘everything was normal’.
Sources told Vanity Fair that the luxurious lifestyles of the country’s billionaires is no different to before the pandemic broke out when the majority of Americans were forced into quarantine.
‘All these rich people can’t stop themselves,’ another person who has ties to tech CEOs and venture capitalists said.
‘They just can’t stop themselves from throwing parties and going on their jets and socializing as if everything was normal.’
Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg was spotted last month riding a $12,000 electric surfboard during a vacation with his family in Hawaii
Sources say Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick is among those throwing parties at his home Los Angeles.
Kalanick’s parties, however, are much smaller in comparison to before the pandemic and are now held outside.
Another unnamed billionaire has also been throwing lavish parties where guests have to have a 15-minute rapid fire COVID-19 test before they are allowed inside, according to the sources.
Some investors in LA and Silicon Valley are also renting mansions in Palm Springs that cost about $50,000 a month just so they can host parties amid the pandemic.
While some billionaires are throwing parties, others have opted to rent or use their own private jets so they can go on vacation.
Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg was spotted last month riding a $12,000 electric surfboard during a vacation with his family in Hawaii.
The sources say billionaires have also been using their jets to go from COVID-19 safe zones as the outbreak spreads across the country.
One investor was in Miami at the beginning of the pandemic before moving on to Los Angeles and then now New York.
Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, who is usually photographed sailing around Europe this time of year, recently purchased a $10 million Beverly Hills home (above) located next door to the $165 million compound he purchased just six month ago
Bezos, who in previous years has been spotted sailing around Europe during the summer, testified before the House Judiciary Subcommittee last month
He moved on from each city as coronavirus infections started to grow in each place.
Some are even reportedly paying up to $2.6 million so they can secure international citizenship in foreign countries and escape the United States altogether.
Sources say Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick is among those throwing parties at his home Los Angeles. Kalanick’s parties, however, are much smaller in comparison to before the pandemic and are now held outside
The demand for private jets has skyrocketed amid the pandemic with inquiries up 195 percent in June compared to last year and 60 percent in April, according to rental company NetJets.
While more than 16.3 million are now unemployed in the US amid the pandemic, the wealth of America’s billionaires has only grown.
Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, who is usually photographed sailing around Europe this time of year, recently purchased a $10 million Beverly Hills home located next door to the $165 million compound he purchased just six month ago.
Data taken from mid-March to mid-May shows that US billionaires added $484 billion to their wealth despite the outbreak.
Bezos, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Warren Buffett and Larry Ellison saw their wealth grow by a total of $75.5 billion – or 19 percent, according to the report carried out by Americans for Tax Fairness and the Institute for Policy Studies’ Program for Inequality.
Zuckerberg’s wealth increased by $25 billion, Bezos made a gain of $34.6 billion and Tesla’s Elon Musk saw his net worth jump by 48 percent in the two months to $36 billion.
