A man who organized a group to protest Maryland’s lockdown orders has fallen seriously ill after contracting the coronavirus – but says he won’t help government contact tracers track down those he may have exposed, according to reports.
Tim Walters of ReOpen Maryland announced he was battling the disease last week on Facebook, the 360aproko news reported.
“I thought I was actually having a stroke … turns out I had COVID,” he said, according to the paper. He asked for prayers.
Walters said he went to the emergency room Wednesday after crashing, the Post reported.
“I was diagnosed yesterday at the ER with COVID-19 and here I am months after not wearing a mask at rallies, churches, and so on and so it’s funny how capricious this thing is,” he said, according to the Capital Gazette in Annapolis.
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The paper quoted Walters as describing himself as a 53-year-old diabetic, who hasn’t had good health habits since leaving the Navy. The Centers for Disease Control says diabetics are at higher risk of complications from the coronavirus.
Walters said he had contacted people he’d recently interacted with, but also said he would not provide any information to public health officials trying to trace the spread of the disease, the paper reported.
“I will not share anybody’s information with the government. I will not do it,” he said, according to the paper.
Walters declined an interview request, the paper reported.
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, R, posted a link to the Capital Gazette story to his own Facebook page Friday. He noted that health experts “are strongly encouraging anyone who attended a demonstration or mass gathering to immediately get tested for coronavirus.”
The ReOpen Maryland staged a protest in Annapolis and a road rally through Maryland calling on Hogan to lift his stay-at-home order. Hogan canceled the order in May.
Walters has been a candidate for a seat in the Maryland General Assembly but has lost twice.
