Alaska lawmaker banned from flights for refusing to wear a mask gets Covid

Senator criticises CDC advice and lists alternative therapies for dealing with coronavirus on social media

An Alaska senator who was banned from Alaska Airlines for refusing to wear a mask has announced she has coronavirus.

“It’s my turn to battle Covid head-on … game on!” Republican Senator Lora Reinbold posted on Facebook. “Who do you think is going to win? When I defeat it, I will tell you my recipe.”

She went on to post how she was “completely unimpressed” with what she claimed was Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Department of Health advice to take Tylenol until “until you cannot breathe”.

Instead, the senator said she would try her own formula of “lots of vitamins ABCD and Quercitin and zinc citrate”, plus vitamin E and aspirin “to reduce clotting” she also boasted that she is “blessed to have gotten ivermectin” which she calls the “de -covider”.

Ivermectin, which is used to de-worm horses, treats parasitic infections, but “it isn’t going to save patients from Covid-19 infection,” Jeffrey R. Aeschlimann, associate Professor of Pharmacy, University of Connecticut told The Conversation. “In fact, it could cost them their lives,” he added.

The US Food and Drug Administration warned against the use of ivermectin to treat Covid-19 in August. “You are not a horse. You are not a cow. Seriously, y’all. Stop it,” the administration tweeted.

More recently, in September, the FDA reiterated: “The FDA has not authorised or approved ivermectin for use in preventing or treating Covid-19 in humans or animals.” Trials are currently being done on the effectiveness of ivermectin as a treatment for Covid-19.

According to the National Poison Data System, there was a 163 per cent increase in ivermectin exposure cases between 1 January and 31 August, with a total of 1,143 cases.

Senator Reinbold also said she has got advice from an alternative medicine practitioner on Covid remedies.  “My naturopath gave me tips too – that I am sure will work! I will update you in a few days. I plan to keep my promise to stay out of the hospital – some of them seem like scary places these days.”

Sen. Reinbold was banned from flying from Juneau to cast her vote against a public health emergency bill, for refusing to wear a mask on board a flight in April.

Alaska Airlines brought in a mask mandate before the federal government’s mask mandate. Sen. Reinbold has been a strong opponent of masks since the pandemic began.