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  • 2020-04-22 (xsd:date)
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  • Did Ohio Man Who Called COVID-19 a 'Political Ploy' Die from the Disease? (en)
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  • In April 2020, a set of screenshots supposedly showing comments from a John McDaniels, in which he called COVID-19 a political ploy and social-distancing measures bullshit, started to circulate on social media. Along with the posts were articles claiming he died from complications of the coronavirus disease. Here's a screenshot supposedly showing a post from McDaniel on March 15 and a snippet from his obituary a month later: McDaniel truly died from complications related to COVID-19 in April 2020 after he downplayed the seriousness of the disease on social media. The New York Daily News wrote: As screenshots of McDaniel's posts went viral, many social media users took the opportunity to criticize McDaniel, saying he had received his comeuppance for calling the virus a political ploy. McDaniel's wife, Lisa, acknowledged that her husband had made some early assumptions about the virus on social media, but added that social media users were also making unfair assumptions about him. In a statement posted to the Snyder Funeral Homes Facebook page that announced services for McDaniel would not be live-streamed due to concerns about unwanted, negative social media reactions, she explained that McDaniel, like many others, was initially not fully aware of the severity of the pandemic. However, she wrote that he ordered the employees at his company O&M to work from home on March 16 (the day after the above-displayed Facebook post). Furthermore, according to her Facebook message, he self-isolated as soon as he was made aware that he had been in contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19. Lastly, she wrote that if he were still alive, he would have abided by the state's stay-at-home order and would have encouraged others to do the same. Here's her statement from April 22, 2020 (emphasis ours): While some may cast aspersions on McDaniel for not treating COVID-19 with the seriousness it deserved in March 2020, it should be noted that misinformation has been rampant during this pandemic. We've debunked scores of rumors over several months that have touted bad medical advice and promoted conspiracy theories. U.S. President Donald Trump, too, has been criticized for downplaying the seriousness of COVID-19 and has repeatedly called the news outlets outlets covering this pandemic fake news. On Feb. 28, just two weeks before McDaniel posted on social media that COVID-19 was a political ploy, Trump said during a rally that Democrats are politicizing the coronavirus as their new hoax. (en)
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