Man dies from COVID-19 after dismissing coronavirus stay-at-home order as a ‘political ploy’

In Ohio, conservative Republican Gov. Mike DeWine has been lambasted by far-right groups for issuing a stay-at-home order in his state and promoting social distancing during the coronavirus pandemic. One of DeWine’s critics was 60-year-old John W. McDaniel, who dismissed COVID-19 as a “political ploy” and angrily railed against the Ohio governor.

But sadly, McDaniel has since died from the very thing he didn’t take seriously.

The New York Post’s Lee Brown reports that McDaniel died from COVID-19 on Wednesday, April 15 in Columbus, Ohio following a series of posts attacking DeWine.

On March 13, McDaniel posted, “Does anybody have the guts to say this COVID-19 is a political ploy? Asking for a friend. Prove me wrong.” And two days later, on March 15, McDaniel slammed DeWine for closing bars and restaurants in Ohio — writing, “He doesn’t have that authority. If you are paranoid about getting sick, just don’t go out. It shouldn’t keep those of us from living our lives. The madness has to stop.”

Brown reports that although those posts “have since been deleted,” they were saved. Health expert Dr. Dena Grayson, on April 20, tweeted, “Ohio man John McDaniel — who railed on social media against @GovMikeDeWine’s lockdown order and posted, ‘I Say Bullshit! (DeWine) doesn’t have that authority’ — contracted #coronavirus weeks later and now has DIED from #COVID19.”

Attorney Andrew C. Laufer, in response to Grayson’s tweet, lamented, “This is horrible. Ignorance is killing ppl.” And Grayson, responding to Laufer, posted, “One wonders how much @realDonaldTrump’s many lies — that downplayed the threat of this deadly #coronavirus — played a role in this man’s anti-#lockdown views and subsequent death from #COVID19.”