A maskless woman attending an anti-vaccination rally in New York City was heard telling a fellow attendee she was sick with COVID-19 in a viral video.
The woman was identified as Stephanie Denaro, who previously made headlines as the Donald Trump supporter who called a New York bakery employee a racial slur for being asked to wear a mask while inside the store.
In the video at the anti-vax rally, Denaro seemed out of breath while walking and telling a friend about her husband's condition.
"Danny’s in the hospital with Covid," she said, adding, "I have it too."
Independent reporter Talia Jane posted the brief clip of Denaro on Twitter, writing:
"An attendee of the antivax rally last night was chatting with another attendee. She pauses, clears her throat and looks briefly winded for a moment."
"She looks up again and says: 'Danny’s in the hospital with covid… I have it too.' *have* it. Not *had.* Present tense."
The friend, who is not visible in the video, inquired:
"Why is he in the hospital?"
To which Denaro replied:
"Because he didn't go to the doctor and get it taken care of. He's an idiot."
The male friend then suggested Denaro's ailing husband should take Ivermectin, which is a livestock dewormer the FDA did not approve or authorize for the treatment of COVID-19.
The widespread misinformation of using the veterinary medicine has led to poison centers being barraged with calls from people who injected themselves with the drug that was erroneously promoted as effective and used by comedian and podcast host, Joe Rogan.
Jane posted a follow-up tweet, saying:
"The guy didn’t hear her say she currently has covid, instead focuses on why Danny' (Danny Christman) is dying in the hospital, suggests he take horse dewormer and says he knows a woman who might have some. 'They don’t need to know about it.'”
Jane said the rally "was organized by 'New York Freedom Rally,' an antivax QAnon conspiracy theorist network that has been exploiting mandates and covid disinformation to recruit and radicalize."
People were appalled after watching the clip.
Those who were speechless posted memes to better convey their observations.
Transmission rates in New York City have significantly spiked due to the Omicron variant.
According to the latest transmission data posted by the city as of Tuesday, about 2,012 of every 100,000 residents in Manhattan tested positive in the last seven days.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul said the state reported a new single-day high of 67,090 cases on Wednesday.
She also said hospitalizations are rapidly increasing, rounding out at a statewide total of 6,767 as of Wednesday, which is a 10% increase over Tuesday's admissions and dangerously close to highs around 8,700 from January of this year.
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