The organizer of a Maryland group that pressured Republican Gov.
Larry Hogan to ease restrictions and protested the state’s stay-at-home order has tested positive for COVID-19.
Tim Walters, the co-founder and organizer of Reopen Maryland posted A Facebook live video Thursday, wherein he said he is currently under quarantine in his home.
He also said that his wife and son would be tested and would be under the 14-day quarantine.
“I did have a hard day yesterday. I told you guys I wasn’t feeling really well. I crashed later in the day, had to go to the emergency room. I thought I was actually having a stroke … turns out I had Covid,” he said.
“As you can see, I’m not dying. It’s uncomfortable. I would make it akin to having the flu.”
Reopen Maryland had been organizing rallies across the state since April, pressuring Hogan to reopen the state’s economy.
They also joined a number of religious and business leaders, as well as state lawmakers and filed a Federal complaint over his stay-at-home order.
Walters had posted a series of Facebook videos earlier this week, where he first shared his COVID-19 diagnosis.
On Friday, he said in an interview that he deleted some videos where he discussed his diagnosis due to the backlash his family received.
While Walters urged those he had come in contact with recently urged to assess their health, he expressed his unwillingness to cooperate with the contract tracing efforts by the state public health officials.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stressed the importance of wearing a cloth face cover in public, noting “cloth face coverings are meant to protect other people in case the wearer is unknowingly infected but does not have symptoms.”
The director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation also put an emphasis on wearing face masks, and said that “wearing masks can reduce transmission of the virus by as much as 50%, and those who refuse are putting their lives, their families, their friends, and their communities at risk.”