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With the global pandemic people are being introduced to terms they may not understand.
Luckily resources are abundant to research and define those terms.
But not everyone chooses to use the tools available to them. Some prefer to operate from a place of ignorance, like former GOP candidate DeAnna Lorraine.
DeAnna Lorraine's claim to fame on all of her social media is to have run for Congress "vs Nancy Pelosi."
Lorraine lost in the primary finishing next to last overall and last among Republican candidates.
Pelosi garnered 190,574 votes for over 74% while Lorraine received just 4,635 for 1.8%. The top finishing Republican got 19,883 for 7.7% and over four times more than Lorraine.
Since then, Lorraine has focused on peddling pandemic conspiracy theories and asking people to send her money.
Seemingly ignorant of the meaning of the term asymptomatic in her latest pandemic podcast and YouTube video, Lorraine decided to make up her own definition.
For those who want to know what it really means, in medicine a disease, infection or patient may be referred to as asymptomatic. It means a patient is a carrier for a disease or infection but experiences no symptoms. An infection or disease is asymptomatic if it fails to show noticeable symptoms that are usually associated with the condition in an afflicted patient.
In a pandemic, asymptomatic carriers are the biggest danger to public health.
One of the most famous asymptomatic carriers was Typhoid Mary. Mary Mallon was a cook believed to have infected 51 people with typhoid fever—from 1900 to 1907—while working as a cook in a series of homes where staff and family members were infected. Mallon herself never appeared ill during the years she infected others.
Mallon was the first person in the United States identified as an asymptomatic carrier of typhoid. She became a famous symbol of the dangers of such infected individuals who do not know they are sick.
Lorraine—who has been retweeted by Donald Trump—is not convinced the pandemic is a real thing.
In one of her latest podcast episodes Lorraine stated:
"By the way, an asymptomatic carrier is basically just a codename for 'you don't have it'."
"You don't freaking have it. OK? It's not showing up in your system, it doesn't show up in a test."
"You don't have the [virus]. But saying that people are asymptomatic is just a way for them to test everybody and track and surveil everyone."
Lorraine then claims her blatant ignorance is "not a conspiracy theory" just before she claims a congressional bill number has a hidden meaning.
You can hear her remarks here:
Twitter had a swift and definitive reaction to Lorraine's claims.
The term "grifter" came up repeatedly in reference to Lorraine.
In case she doesn't know that word either, grifter is another term for a con artist, liar or a person "who engages in petty or small-scale swindling."
Much of Lorraine's content includes appeals for people to send her money so she can continue to share the "real truth."
Lorraine's truth must be of the alternative facts variety.
As of Friday morning, May 15, 1.45 million people in the United States have been confirmed as infected. The acknowledged death toll sits at 86,541 people.
President Donald Trump requested changes to how the CDC acknowledges deaths attributed to the pandemic in an effort to reduce reported numbers. The White House hopes deaths won't be counted unless the victim was tested before their death.
The federal failure to provide adequate testing resources is certain to result in drastic under reporting of pandemic deaths. People will still die, but the public will be kept ignorant of the true numbers.
In a pandemic, ignorance kills.
