Santa and Mrs. Claus Test Positive for COVID-19 After Taking Photos With 50 Children

Santa and Mrs. Claus cosplayers in Georgia tested positive for COVID-19 just two days after taking photos with as many as 50 children during a special mid-pandemic holiday event.

In a warning to potentially affected families, Long County Commission Chairman Robert Parker—who claims to have known the two people portraying the beloved Claus couple his entire life—advised parents to keep their exposed kids at home until 2021. School or related activities, however, are not being canceled.

"While this event was not put on by the City of Ludowici or the Long County Board of Commissioners, it was well attended by our public officials and I believe I speak for the majority of them in saying that we still stand by the decision of the Chamber to move forward with these holiday traditions and to bring some sense of normalcy to these trying times," Parker said, per a report from regional outlet WTOC 11.

The faux Claus photo festivities were apparently a part of the local holiday parade. Following the pride, these iterations of the Claus duo attended a tree lighting ceremony and the photo session with dozens of children.

As for the real Santa, he was confirmed earlier this season to actually be immune to COVID-19.

"Santa is exempt from this because Santa, of all the good qualities, has a lot of good innate immunity," Dr. Anthony Fauci said back in November, noting that—despite Claus seemingly being a high-risk candidate because of age and weight—he's indeed "not going to be spreading any infections to anybody."

Naturally, we all responded to this news with publicly expressed ponderings about kidnapping Mr. Claus, though logic ultimately stepped in to squash any such nonsense.