Peter Levine, a dad from Nanuet New York, refused to let his 21 year old son Matt Levine into the house after he returned home from spring break in South Padre Island, Texas, where he had gone with his friends from the Springfield College in Massachusetts against his father’s advice.
“I spoke with him every day and told him that maybe they should come home,” Peter, 52, and a salesman, told The New York Post. “I was aggravated. The news here was getting worse and worse. Matt sent me pictures of him and his friends congregating outdoors and listening to live music. It’s the scene you would not want to be in.”
Peter also refused to let Matt and his friends stay at the family home after their trip since Matt’s grandparents live there and it cannot be certain what Matt has been exposed to. When Matt and his friends returned home after their trip was cancelled due to the increasing number of cases in Texas, Peter refused to pick his son and his friends up saying there was, “No chance!”
“I had filled the trunk of Matt’s car with groceries and left him an envelope containing $300 in cash,” Peter said. “All the guys’ keys were on the front seat. They got out of the car [from the airport] near our driveway and I said, ‘Stay right there! Do not go any further!’ The guys were tired and they had a two-and-a-half hour drive ahead of them. I love my son, but they were not sleeping here. I said, ‘If any of you have to pee, we have some bushes.’ Two of them took me up on it.”
Like most American colleges, Springfield has canceled its in-person classes and closed the campus. Matt is currently staying with roommates in their off-campus house a while longer.
“Their lease ends in June and none of the parents want them home,” said Peter. “It’s too risky.”
