GOP Lawmaker Urges People to Take Virus Seriously

Tennessee state Rep. David Byrd (R), “who went from unmasked gatherings with fellow legislators to being placed on ventilator days later,” has “emerged with a message for constituents after a harrowing eight-month experience with long-haul covid-19: Take the coronavirus seriously,” the Washington Post reports.

Byrd “described an ordeal that included 55 days on a ventilator in which covid-19 ravaged his memory, his muscles and his organs — it led to him having a liver transplant in June; his condition was so grave that his family at least once began planning for his funeral.”