Matt Glantz to Contract CoronaVirus for $250K

The idea that poker players are always looking for an angle never looked truer than when Matt Glantz offered to infect himself with the SARS-CoV-2 Coronavirus for a mere $250,000. 

This came in a tweet which added:

“Always put my money (I guess my body now) where my mouth is."

For what at first seems like a tweet from one of the darker cells in Bedlam, his reasoning is actually pretty canny. On the basis that he’s likely to catch it at some point, why not get paid for it? Not to mention getting it out of the way early when medical systems aren’t overstrained by the US arm of the pandemic.

Other’s were quick to point out that the risks are higher than he seems to be letting on, and that he must have lost it.

Then there is the question of taste. Is deliberately contracting something that has killed thousands – and may well kill more than that by several factors – a slap in the face to the loved ones of the deceased? 

Perhaps more importantly, by contracting it deliberately he is creating one more vector for the virus. Self quarantine can only be so effective after all. This point of view was headed off by one commenter with a far more aggressive program for inoculating the healthy against the disease. 

Trust poker players to think outside the box. Perhaps the CDC should add a “number of bracelets” line to their hiring policy.

Then again. Maybe not.