Covidiots

The Cincinnati Enquirer reports: Anti-vaccine demonstrators attempting to block highways as part of nationwide protests will face felony charges, according to the Hamilton County Prosecutor’s Office. Prosecutor Joe Deters said his office has learned of protesters’ plans to shut down highways across the country on Monday morning in a denouncement of mask and COVID-19 vaccine mandates. “I want to be …

The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reports: For the second time today, a Hawaiian Airlines flight was diverted back to Honolulu this afternoon due to an incident involving an alleged unruly passenger. Hawaiian Flight 22 departed Daniel K. Inouye International Airport at 1:05 p.m. today for a direct flight to Seattle. “Approximately two hours after takeoff, our captain was notified of a passenger …

The Irish Times reports: A Covid-19 patient who left a Co Donegal hospital last week after being encouraged by anti-vaccination campaigners, has died in hospital. Joe McCarron, aged 75, died at Letterkenny University Hospital on Friday. Mr McCarron, who was from Dungloe, had been in hospital for a number of days after contracting the virus. His case received widespread attention …

The Hill reports: Six United Airlines employees filed a federal lawsuit against the company this week seeking to block a COVID-19 vaccine mandate from going into effect. The complaint, filed Tuesday in a Texas federal court, alleges that the company discriminated against employees who requested religious or medical accommodations. The plaintiffs have asked for a temporary restraining order or a …

San Antonio’s CBS News reports: A new billboard campaign against vaccination mandates is running nationwide, and San Antonio is one of the targeted cities. The group behind it is from Minnesota. They say their goal is to raise awareness and build resistance to the new vaccination rules. The digital billboard campaign is simple and straightforward: “Don’t Be Bullied. Make an …

NBC News reports: Anti-vaccine Facebook groups have a new message for their community members: Don’t go to the emergency room, and get your loved ones out of intensive care units. Consumed by conspiracy theories claiming that doctors are preventing unvaccinated patients from receiving miracle cures or are even killing them on purpose, some people in anti-vaccine and pro-ivermectin Facebook groups …

Florida Politics reports: Charles Craig, a 40 year old handyman from Apollo Beach, said that the White House had “grabbed” hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin and were doing the same with Regeneron-branded monoclonal antibody treatment. “To think that they’re limiting the access of this is sickening. It works. It’s awesome. Another reason you know it works,” Craig said. “In the beginning, hydroxychloroquine …

The New York Daily News reports: Alaho, genius. An Illinois woman accused of using a fake proof of vaccination card upon which “Moderna” is misspelled, now has a warrant out for her arrest after skipping a virtual court date with a judge in Hawaii. Hawaiian station KHON reports that Chloe Mrozak, 24, missed a Wednesday hearing where she would have …

The Daytona News-Journal reports: Councilman Fred Lowry returned (virtually) to the Volusia County Council for Tuesday’s meeting and said he was “doing good” after being hospitalized with COVID-19 earlier this month. The 67-year-old Republican attracted controversy this summer for promoting conspiracy theories at his church. “We did not have a pandemic, folks. We were lied to,” Lowry said in a …

Forbes reports: An undisclosed number of people from the town of Edson in Alberta in Canada have ended up in the ICU after attending a “Covid party,” according to news reports. Originally reported by City News Edmonton, the partygoers had supposedly attended the gathering with the specific intention of contracting Covid-19 to achieve “natural immunity” against the SARS-CoV2 virus. “I …

The New York Daily News reports: A California mother of four who was “proudly” anti-vax, particularly anti-COVID-19 vaccine, died of complications due to the coronavirus. Kristen Lowery, 40, was a figurehead on social media, proclaiming her anti-mask and vaccine views that garnered high praise. Lowery’s sister Cassie wrote on Facebook before her death that she was “fighting for her life …

The Miami Herald reports: Five school districts’ challenge to a mask mandate rule came to a screeching halt Wednesday after Gov. Ron DeSantis’ newly appointed surgeon general repealed the rule and replaced it with his own that gave parents even more choice over how to deal with COVID-19 in schools. The new rule leaves the option for masking in schools …

Reuters reports: Police in the Canadian province of Quebec are searching for a man they suspect of punching a nurse in the face for giving his wife a COVID-19 vaccine without his consent, a police spokesman said on Wednesday. The man confronted the female nurse on Monday morning in the office of a pharmacy in the city of Sherbrooke, about …

The Washington Post reports: A leading asthma patient group has issued a warning against a coronavirus treatment circulating on social media that is leading some people to post videos of themselves breathing in hydrogen peroxide through a nebulizer. The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America called the practice “concerning and dangerous” in a Tuesday blog post, emphasizing that it will …

The Chicago Tribune reports: A Libertyville hospital that was ordered to let a COVID-19 patient receive the controversial medication ivermectin fought back in court Tuesday, saying the woman’s heart rate plunged after she received a “mega dose” of the drug, and that further use could lead to more health problems. The woman’s attorneys disputed that, saying the staff at Advocate …

Wichita Falls’ NBC News affiliate reports: A man is in the Wichita County Jail facing a third degree felony charge after police say he attacked a security guard at Kell West over the hospital’s COVID-19 mask policy. It happened around 11: 45 a.m. Wichita Falls Police went to Kell West about a disturbance between 37-year-old Chad Staelens and the security …

The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports: A majority of the Clark County Commission took a formal stand Tuesday against COVID-19 misinformation, declaring it a public health crisis amid concerns from other lawmakers that doing so might agitate a deep division within Southern Nevada. The 5-2 vote made the county one of few jurisdictions in the U.S. to label falsehoods related to …

Newsweek reports: Joseph Ladapo—the doctor appointed on Tuesday as Florida’s new surgeon general by Republican Governor Ron DeSantis—once appeared in a COVID-19 conspiracy video featuring Dr. Stella Immanuel. Immanuel, a pediatrician and religious minister, gained notoriety in 2020 for her bizarre theories, including that “demonic seed” causes endometriosis and ovarian cysts. In July 2020, Ladapo appeared in a 43-minute viral …

The Orlando Sentinel reports: Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed a new state surgeon general Tuesday who has written essays questioning the safety of COVID-19 vaccines, the effectiveness of masks and favoring hydroxychloroquine, a drug touted by former President Donald Trump to treat the virus. “Florida will completely reject fear,” Dr. Joseph Ladapo, an assistant professor at the UCLA School of Medicine …

The New York Times reports: President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil kicked off the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday by defending the use of ineffective drugs to treat the coronavirus and by pushing back on criticism of his government’s environmental record. Brazil’s far-right president said doctors should have had more leeway in administering untested medications for Covid-19, adding that he …