Kylie Rancor
COVID-deniers almost always have one thing in common — they haven’t gotten sick themselves. The misconceptions that the novel coronavirus is “basically just the flu” and that only old people and those with pre-existing conditions will suffer in any meaningful way are positions that are mostly upheld by people with little to no experience with the virus, and if that changes, so does their point of view.
But one anti-masker actually decided to double down after he was hospitalized with COVID-19, and is continuing to insist that it’s just really not that bad.
Ben Barber’s Facebook post after returning home from the ICU is a mind-boggling read from start to finish.
“I have really backed off my public stance on COVID recently, but after the last couple weeks, I think one more rant is acceptable,” he began.
He then confirmed he tested positive for COVID-19 two weeks prior, and described his symptoms as “sick to my stomach, hard time sleeping, aches and all that.”
“One week ago, I was rushed to the ER and then taken by ambulance to the University of Utah Respitory [sic] ICU,” Barber wrote. “My oxygen was so low that I almost died, almost went on life support and almost sent my kids through life without a dad.”
And then comes the real kicker: “Having almost died, I stand by my assertion that COVID is being blown out of proportion to serve a higher greed. Masks are stupid and so is social distancing.”
Shockingly enough, “I was super close to dying but ultimately did not, so the thing I almost died from isn’t something that should concern anyone” wasn’t the convincing argument Barber clearly thought it would be, and the post went viral on Twitter for the sheer idiocy of it all.
You’d think nearly dying might cause a rational person to encourage others to do what they can to avoid going through something similarly terrible, but no.
This is almost as ridiculous as Herman Cain’s “family and team” co-opting his Twitter to downplay COVID concerns after Cain himself died of the virus. This is looking more and more like a death cult every day.