A Republican leader in Ohio who believes responsible public health procedures are synonymous with a dictatorship, has advised people to refrain from being tested for COVID-19.
State Rep. Nino Vitale said in an on-brandishly inept Facebook post on Wednesday that recent moves toward mask requirements to help slow the spread of coronavirus are part of "what happens when people go crazy and get tested." The solution, he erroneously added, is to just ignore the whole thing.
"STOP GETTING TESTED!" Vitale said. "It is giving the government an excuse to claim something is happening that is not happening at the magnitude they say it is happening."
Of course, as regional CBS outlet WBNS points out, this doesn’t mark Vitale's inaugural instance of piss-poor coronavirus messaging. His previous attempts at pushing back against health-minded policies has focused on the wearing of face masks. Vitale, as has been documented, is a follower of the increasingly popular Republican-held falsehood that masks are entirely ineffective.
Back in March, Vitale even went so far as to bring one's religious beliefs into his argument, stating (again on Facebook) that he "will not wear a mask" because doing so would obscure "the image and likeness of God."
As with his nonsensical mask takes, Vitale's advice that people simply "stop getting tested" has been roundly met with tweeted condemnation:
Anyway, don't listen to this moron. Please hit up the CDC for all your mask-related advice.
