Surgeon General Calls On Kylie Jenner Among Others For Help in Coronavirus Fight
(IBEXNews) – The stars of social media could make a big impact on social distancing.
United States Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams is calling for “influencers” with large social media followings such as Kylie Jenner and Kevin Durant to stress the seriousness of the coronavirus pandemic in hopes of getting through to younger generations.
“I have a 15- and a 14-year-old, and the more I tell them not to do something, the more they want to do it,” Adams said Wednesday on “Good Morning America.”
“What I really think we need to do ... (is) get our influencers, 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. This is absolutely serious. People are dying.”
Durant, who is a member of the Nets, and Mitchell, who plays for the Utah Jazz, are among the NBA players who have tested positive for coronavirus in recent days.
Jenner, meanwhile, is one of the most popular Instagram personalities with 166 million followers. The “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” star wrote about the importance of social distancing Wednesday in a post on her Instagram story.
“Another daily reminder to take this social distancing serious and self-quarantine,” Jenner, 22, wrote.
Mitchell, meanwhile, wrote last week to his 3 million Instagram followers that he was listening to the orders given to him by medical professionals after his positive test.
“We are all learning more about the seriousness of this situation and hopefully people can continue to educate themselves and realize that they need to behave responsibly both for their own health and for the well being of those around them," the NBA All-Star wrote.