Far-right, anti-vax conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer tests positive for COVID, has ‘brutal body aches and nausea’
Far-right Republican Laura Loomer, an anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist who once said she wanted to get COVID-19, has tested positive for the virus and is experiencing “brutal body aches and nausea,” she told her social media followers Thursday.
The failed congressional candidate and QAnon supporter said that her symptoms began on Wednesday and that she’s already undergoing treatment with several drugs, including hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malaria medication with no proven effectiveness against coronavirus.
“I had a fever, chills, a runny nose, sore throat, nausea and severe body aches that made my whole body feel like I got hit by a bus, and after sleeping for a few hours, my symptoms started to remind me of how I felt when I had a bad case of the flu a few years ago,” she wrote on Gettr, a social media platform created by former President Donald Trump’s associate Jason Miller.
Loomer, 28, said she has not taken and does not plan to take the COVID-19 vaccine, which she baselessly described as “unsafe and ineffective.”
Debunking COVID vaccine myths and lies, from dumb to dangerous
Numerous studies conducted by reliable institutions around the world have found that existing coronavirus vaccines are safe and help prevent serious illness and deaths. Pfizer’s vaccine, which was recently given full approval by federal health regulators, is more than 90% effective at preventing COVID-19 infections, according to a review of more than 20,000 people who received the shots.
Loomer, who lost a U.S. House bid last year and now plans to challenge a Republican incumbent in a different Florida district, once said she hoped to get coronavirus so she could “prove to people” that even food poisonings are more serious and life-threatening, saying “bad fajitas” kill faster than coronavirus.
She was wrong, of course. In reality, about 3,000 people die from foodborne diseases in the U.S. each year. COVID-19 has killed more than 10,000 Americans in the past seven days and over 660,000 since the pandemic began last year, according to the latest data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Besides spreading dangerous misinformation to her followers, Loomer is also known for her hatred for Muslims. She has openly attacked those who follow that religion and previously used the hashtag #ProudIslamophobe on social media.
Loomer is banned from Twitter, Facebook and even ride-sharing services Lyft and Uber.
