More Shitty Jimmy Buffett News

Noam Galai/Getty Images

More Shitty Jimmy Buffett News

Noam Galai/Getty Images

A few years ago, we reported on the curious phenomenon of Parrotheads bringing homemade toilets to Jimmy Buffett concerts and then leaving them on the grounds afterwards. And now, nearly four years later, the saga continues with more shitty news for Jimmy Buffett fans.

People reports that a group of Jimmy Buffett fans from Oklahoma became violently ill while visiting the Dominican Republic’s Hotel Riu Palace Macao on a group trip to Punta Cana in April. Dana Flowers, a member of the Central Oklahoma Parrothead Association and their travel agent, says that 47 of the 114 people on the trip got sick.

“We went [to Hotel Riu Palace Macao] for the week — some longer, some shorter,” Flowers tells People. “We were enjoying the beach and the pool, and about three or four days into the trip we started hearing about people getting sick. They were getting diarrhea, vomiting, dizziness, headaches.”

Although at first they thought it was just food poisoning, their symptoms got worse and worse. Many of the Parrotheads were unable to even leave their rooms, and Flowers claims that he himself lost 14 pounds over the course of 19 days. “It was some of the worst sick I’ve ever been, and I don’t normally ever get sick,” he says.

According to Flowers, everyone who got sick either swam in one specific pool or drank at the swim-up bar. He says that when they sought treatment from the on-site doctor, “Most of them got an IV, then were prescribed a medicine for parasites. [They] didn’t do any testing, they just automatically gave them medicine for parasites.” When they returned home, two group members tested positive for salmonella.

“We are aware that three guests staying last April at this hotel and coming from the same group … were attended by a possible case of gastroenteritis in our doctor’s office,” the Hotel Riu Palace Morena tells People in a statement. “These events occurred after an external activity of this group outside the hotel, so we can not determine the exact origin of the stomach upset. … No more similar cases were registered by other guests during the indicated date above.”

This is just the latest in a series of incidents from the past year of tourists becoming sick or dying while visiting the Dominican Republic. Robin Bernstein, the United States’ ambassador to the Dominican Republic, recently said that these high-profile incidents are just isolated cases. “We have 2.7 million Americans who come to the country and the statistics is that this is a very … unique event,” he said. “They come to visit the beautiful beaches and enjoy the great culture. Unfortunately sometimes those things happen to people.”

This has been your latest shitty news for Jimmy Buffett fans update. Join us again in 2023, when a bunch of Parrotheads will probably shit their pants or something.

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