Anti-mask GOP candidate contracts COVID-19 in Wisconsin -- now his Dem opponent has started feeling symptoms

One candidate running to represent Waukesha in the Wisconsin State Assembly has been infected with coronavirus and his opponent is possibly infected, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.

Soon after Republican Rep. Scott Allen tested positive on September 27, his Democratic opponent Aaron Perry started experiencing symptoms commonly associated with the virus, including losing his sense of taste and smell.

The news comes as Wisconsin is seeing a surge in cases.

Allen has repeatedly downplayed the virus and has claimed that face masks are unnecessary.

"COVID-19 cases are stabilizing or declining otherwise. Gov. Evers’ panic is about positive tests, not actual illness which require medical intervention," Allen said in July when the state's governor first mandated masks statewide. "This is an assault on science and an insult of the intelligence of the people of Wisconsin."

On September 23, Allen said that the data is in: "masks either hurt or do not seem to make a difference."

One week later, he tested positive.