---
title: "Deadly COVID Outbreak Linked to Inflatable Christmas Tree Costume"
description: "A San Jose hospital staff member dressed in a self-inflating Christmas tree costume likely caused a COVID-19 outbreak, that infected 43 and killed one."
date: "2021-01-04"
modified: "2021-01-04"
authors:
  - name: "Victor Tangermann"
    job_title: "Senior Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor"
url: "https://futurism.com/neoscope/covid-outbreak-inflatable-christmas-tree-costume"
categories:
  - "Developments"
  - "Health & Medicine"
tags:
  - "coronavirus"
  - "covid19"
---

# Deadly COVID Outbreak Linked to Inflatable Christmas Tree Costume

![A San Jose hospital staff member dressed in a self-inflating Christmas tree costume likely caused a COVID-19 outbreak, that infected 43 and killed one.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/covid-outbreak-inflatable-christmas-tree-costume.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: NBC News\</em\>*

In what can only be described as an extremely unfortunate event, a San Jose hospital staff member who dressed in a self-inflating Christmas tree costume likely caused a COVID-19 outbreak, which the [*The Washington Post* reports](<https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/01/04/inflatable-costume-san-jose-covid/>) has infected 43 and killed one so far.

"Obviously this is a highly unusual situation involving a well-intentioned staff member acting on their own without advance notice or approval," Irene Chavez, senior vice president and area manager of the Kaiser Permanente San Jose Medical Center in California, told the newspaper. "Any exposure, if it occurred, would have been completely innocent, and quite accidental, as the individual had no COVID symptoms."

Officials believe the battery-powered fan inside the Christmas costume may have spread and circulated coronavirus droplets around the hospital, [according to the *San Francisco Chronicle*](<https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/43-staffers-infected-at-Kaiser-emergency-room-in-15842340.php>).

"They’re just acting as the mover of air in a huge way," Peter Chin-Hong, a professor of medicine and infectious disease expert at the University of California in San Francisco, told the *Chronicle*. "It’s like a fan that’s kind of multidirectional and random."

A registration clerk at the hospital died after catching COVID in the outbreak, [according to *NBC*](<https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/south-bay/44-san-jose-kaiser-staff-members-test-positive-in-covid-outbreak-1-dies/2436161/>).

California's hospitals are absolutely slammed right now. Hospitalizations are at an all time high with ICUs across the state at [almost 100 percent capacity](<https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/California-hospitals-strain-as-number-of-ICU-15841798.php>).

## Author
I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/vtanger.bsky.social>)