We will keep hearing stories like this until there is a vaccine. They are rather sad, all in all, though there is an element of these stories in which, if it has to be someone who gets COVID, it might as well be someone who needed the message anyway:

Jason Rapert is an Arkansas state senator with a serious case of gay hatred. He’s proposed some awful things all in the name of “God” (his God, of course). He has also been all over the map on COVID as is now typical of GOP pols. From the TowleRoad:

More from the Friendly Atheist: While Rapert has sometimes advocated for the use of masks, he’s also been pushing the same Republican talking points decrying the pandemic as some sort of hoax and writing off sensible precautions as liberal overreach. When the governor of the state finally issued a mask mandate earlier this week, Rapert said he opposed it on principle.

Rapert wrote of Republican Gov. Asa Hutchison’s mask mandate: “There is no question that Covid19 is serious and can be very deadly for those with underlying conditions and the elderly. But the fact is 99% of our nation has not been afflicted and this pandemic is no worse statistically than other severe outbreaks we have endured without draconian measures isolating the healthy and shutting down our entire economy.”

As a public service, we want to point out that the 1% death rate he is citing isn’t proven – indeed some reports have it much higher – but even if deaths were at 1% that doesn’t make that 1% less meaningful, nor does it mean that the disease doesn’t severely impact those who live through it. Rapert is learning this lesson right now.

Rapert has COVID, pneumonia, and it is serious enough that he’s hospitalized:

“This is a difficult time for my family, but we know that God is with us always,” Rapert said in a statement. “We’re sincerely grateful for the many prayers of love and support that have been expressed on our behalf. We have all been doing our best to wear a mask, social distance and be careful like everyone else. This virus is serious and can attack anyone regardless of age or general health. I look forward to a full recovery because my caregivers and the medical staff have been taking very good care of me. Please join me in prayer for all those afflicted with this illness, their families and all those caring for them.”

Jason Rapert is 48 years old, he surely thought of himself as healthy and certainly not “elderly.” He is in a serious enough state that he’s hospitalized – which would not be normal for a “flu” and goes to show that the disease is serious and those who don’t respect it could have a bad end.

We wish him well and hope he’s healthy again soon, and then he might work toward greater compassion and less ideology.

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Peace, y’all
Jason
[email protected] and on Twitter @MiciakZoom