Photo: Laura Loomer / Telegram / Gettr
She did say she hoped she'd catch it.
By Isaac Serna-Diez — Written on Sep 17, 2021
Far-right, anti-muslim, anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer hit Gettr yesterday to deliver a message to her 44k followers that is at odds with her usual practice of downplaying COVID.
Infamously banned all over the internet, she has had her account taken away on websites like Twitter, Instagram, Uber, Lyft, even banned from financial companies Venmo and Paypal as well as crowdfunding website GoFundMe.
Laura Loomer annouced she tested positive for COVID-19.
“Yesterday I was feeling ill. I had a fever, chills, a runny nose, sore throat, nausea and severe body aches that made my whole body feel like I got hit by a bus,” she wrote.
“After sleeping for a few hours, my symptoms started to remind me of how I felt when I had a bad case of the flu a few years ago.”
She revealed that she had tested positive for the high transmissable virus.
While symptoms of the virus tend to line up with a lot of flu symptoms, COVID can oftentimes be much more severe — leading to breathing difficulties and long-lasting health effects.
Laura Loomer previously said she hoped to get COVID.
On December 30th, 2020, Loomer made a post on Parler — a far-right social media platform that has since been taken down — trivializing the COVID virus and comparing it to food poisoning.
“I hope I get COVID just so I can prove to people I’ve had bouts of food poisoning that are more serious and life threatening than a hyped up virus,” she posted.
“Have you ever eaten bad fajitas? That will kill you faster than COVID.”
Someone forgot to tell her to be careful of what she wished for, because the virus is what she got.
Loomer still does not plan on getting vaccinated.
“I have not taken the COVID-19 vaccine,” she said, “and I don’t plan on ever taking it because it is unsafe and ineffective.”
According to a new study from the CDC, Moderna's vaccine was 93% effective at preventing hospitalizations, while Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson were 88% and 71% effective, respectively.
This is a stark comparison to the yearly flu vaccines which end up testing around 40% to 60% effective.
“Today, I immediately started a treatment of Azithromyacin and Hydroxychloroquine,” she said. “I’m also taking the OrthoMune dietary supplement.”
Azithromyacin and Hydroxychloroquine are two medicines used in the treatment of malaria and bacterial infections — of which COVID is not.
Neither medicine has been proven to work, but have been spread by word of mouth among conservatives who refuse to get vaccinated against the virus — hydroxychloroquine was popularized by President Donald Trump himself.
“Luckily, I live in Florida where Governor DeSantis has opened statewide Regeneron monoclonal antibody treatment centers,” she said. “This morning I received the Regeneron treatment for COVID.”
However, in follow-up messages on her Telegram channel late Thursday, she revealed just how in pain she was and how severe her symptoms had gotten.
“Just pray for me please,” she wrote. “Can’t even begin to explain how brutal the body aches and nausea that come with COVID are. I am in so much pain.”
People on Twitter are calling her out, saying that if she had simply gotten the vaccine, she would not be suffering as much as she currently is.
She continued to post more vaccine conspiracy theories, writing that the government “doesn’t want you to know what it really does,” when what it really does is help exactly what she’s going through right now.
Isaac Serna-Diez is a writer who focuses on entertainment and news, social justice and politics.