A New York State dad is refusing to let his son come back home after the 21-year-old refused to cut short his spring break trip to Texas, ...
A New York State dad is refusing to let his son come back home after the 21-year-old refused to cut short his spring break trip to Texas, despite rising coronavirus fears sweeping the country.
Matt Levine, 21, of Nanuet, New York, traveled to South Padre Island, Texas, for spring break with his friends from their Massachusetts' Springfield College, in mid-March.
'I spoke with him every day and told him that maybe they should come home,' dad Peter Levine, 52, told the New York Post. 'I was aggravated. The news here was getting worse and worse.'
Dad Peter Levine, 52 (pictured), has banned his son, Matt Levine, 21, from entering the family home, over coronavirus fears as Matt returned from partying in Texas during spring break
Dad Peter stopped son Matt (pictured in Massachusetts) and his friends from entering the home when they arrived off their flight from Texas. They were planning to stay the night
Rather than return home, Peter said Matt sent him pictures of himself and his friends, hanging around outside and listening to live music.
'It’s the scene you would not want to be in,' Peter said.
KRGV reported on March 9, at the start of spring break season, that it was business as usual as spring breakers said that they were not worried about coronavirus and that officials hadn't made any decisions to change the way spring breakers partied.
Instead, local businesses were told to stock hand sanitizer and remind kids to wash their hands.
Peter eventually told Matt that he and his friends would not be able to stay at their Nanuet home on their way back to college, as they had originally planned to do.
Peter said that Matt's grandparents also live in the house and that 'there is no need to expose them to god knows what he had been exposed to!'
Matt, meanwhile, quickly realized that his spring break trip wasn't panning out the way he anticipated.
'We were only allowed to go to the beach in small groups and couldn’t have speakers; by then, there was basically no one on the island,' Matt told the newspaper, adding that 'The police seemed like they were trying to ruin our good time.'
Peter (pictured) said that he didn't want Matt to stay at the home because he didn't want Matt's grandparents, who also live in the home, to be exposed to anything Matt might have caught
Matt (pictured) was made to drive back to Massachusetts, where he attends college, with a trunk full of groceries and $300 cash - both prepared for him by his father
Spring break crowds were out in full force on South Padre Island, Texas, in early March (pictured), as officials had no plans to limit gatherings despite the coronavirus outbreak
South Padre Island beaches were pictured still full of crowds of college kids on March 9
Crowds of spring breakers are shown here on South Padre Island, getting up close and personal while listening to a DJ playing on a stage
By March 21, beaches were shown closed in an effort to limit gatherings of large groups
When it was time to return home last weekend, Matt said that their airplane was rerouted to Tennessee because there had been a confirmed coronavirus diagnosis at LaGuardia Airport in New York City.
'The passengers were freaking out and trying to stay away from each other. But we made it home,' Matt said.
After landing, Peter said there was 'No chance!' he would pick them up from the airport, leaving Matt and his friends to find a car service to drive them to the family home.
When the driver dropped them off near the driveway, Peter told them they couldn't go inside the home.
'I said, "Stay right there! Do not go any further!"' Peter said, adding that he wouldn't even let them inside to use the bathroom, telling the college kids to use the bushes instead. He said two of them did exactly that.
'I love my son, but they were not sleeping here,' Peter said.
Instead, Peter sent Matt and his friends off on their two-and-a-half hour drive back to their college town, having already filled his son's car trunk with groceries and put $300 in cash in an envelope on the front seat.
Matt was left with no choice but to return to the off-campus apartment he shares with roommates in Massachusetts, despite his college classes having been canceled.
Matt had originally planned to move back home after the semester ended, but Peter said that Matt's apartment lease ends in June, but that 'none of the parents want them home' because 'It’s too risky.'
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