Ohio Man Who Dismissed Coronavirus Pandemic As A 'Political Ploy' Dies Of COVID-19

One coronavirus “truther” who called the lockdown a “political ploy” has died of COVID-19.

According to reports, John W. McDaniel died at Riverside Methodist Hospital in Columbus, Ohio last Wednesday weeks after testing positive for the virus in late March. His death was as ironic as it was tragic, seeing as the 60-year-old was reportedly dismissing the pandemic as a hoax just a month ago.

In a March 13 Facebook post, the Ohio man dubbed the deadly virus a “political ploy,” writing:

“Does anybody have the guts to say this COVID19 is a political ploy? Asking for a friend. Prove me wrong.”

Wow. Be careful what you ask for, Perezcious readers.

In a post two days later, McDaniel claimed that state governors didn’t have the “authority” to shut down bars, adding that anyone who was “paranoid” about becoming sick simply shouldn’t go out. He wrote:

“If What I’m hearing is true, that [Gov. Mike DeWine] has ordered all bars and restaurants to be closed, I Say Bulls**t! He doesn’t have that authority. If you are paranoid about getting sick just don’t go out. It shouldn’t keep those of us from Living our Lives. The Madness has to stop.”

Again, tragic.

It’s unclear if the apparent conspiracy theorist, who is survived by his wife and their two adult sons, had any health conditions that could have contributed to his death, but he did battle cancer in the ’80s, according to his obituary.

McDaniel, the president of his company’s industrial manufacturing company, is far from the only Ohioan who felt getting back to work is more important than the ongoing health crisis. Since DeWine and Ohio Health Director Dr. Amy Acton decided to shut down all but essential pieces of the state to flatten the curve, protesters have started to gather outside the Statehouse to urge the governor to rescind the stay-at-home orders.

In a series of tweets on Monday, DeWine said he has “full respect” for protesters but is begging people to keep on practicing social distancing. He wrote:

“We’ve won a battle, we’ve done well, but #COVID19 is still out there and most Ohioans are still susceptible to it. The spread concern is still as strong today as it was a month ago… I have full respect for protesters, but I just ask them to be safe… My job is to listen to the people of Ohio and guide us in a way that gets us through this by losing as few people as possible while trying to put our economy back together.”

Ohio has almost 13,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 509 confirmed deaths from the virus. A quarter of the state’s cases are among the prison population.

Let’s hope McDaniels’ death serves as a wake-up call to his fellow skeptics.