‘Quarantine is when you restrict the movement of sick people. Tyranny is when you restrict the movement of healthy people…’
(Ben Sellers, Liberty Headlines) Only a few days before the declining threat of the coronavirus pandemic in North Carolina prompted Democrat Gov. Roy Cooper to ease stay-at-home orders, the head of a Gaston County hospital board was forced out for challenging left-wing dogma.
“It has been a great honor to serve CaroMont Health,” former board chairman Donnie Loftis said in a statement released by the hospital. “… Now and always, I remain a devoted advocate and staunch supporter of the health system.”
Loftis, who led the hospital’s board of directors for eight years, had questioned Cooper’s recent stay-at-home orders, likening the demands to “tyranny” in a post to his personal Facebook account, according to the Charlotte Observer.
A picture on his page had the statement “Quarantine is when you restrict the movement of sick people. Tyranny is when you restrict the movement of healthy people.”
Loftis previously served as a county commissioner, and his opposition to the state orders was in line with county officials. Last week, they enacted a local resolution to support reopen local businesses in defiance of Cooper’s orders. Commissioners later clarified that they were not encouraging anyone to break the law.
Nonetheless, Loftis’s view flew in the face of CaroMont Health’s official stance after one of the medical center’s nurses was treated for coronavirus in April, reported the Gaston Gazette.
It had warned in an earlier statement that the health facilities lacked an adequate supply of personal protective equipment. “That’s why it is absolutely imperative people who can stay home, stay home,” said the statement.
The hospital has issued disclaimers in the past to disavow the opinions of its board member, saying that they “are not statements made on the behalf of CaroMont Health nor an indication of the health system’s position on any topic, situation or circumstance.”
But after the offending post, the Observer and other advocates of the draconian restrictions initiated a public-shaming campaign that doxxed Loftis’s social media.
His critics further claimed that he had shared “conspiracy theories” online, including the suggestion that China may have intentionally released the virus. Chinese officials and globalist health organizations have rejected the notion.
Loftis also voiced support for pro-life protestors, some of whom had been arrested for leading a demonstration outside a Charlotte abortion clinic.
The Christian group Cities4Life argued that if abortions were deemed an “essential” practice under the restrictions, then protesting them while observing “social-distancing” procedures should be permitted also.
Although Loftis subsequently made his Facebook page private, and the Observer hid its original story behind a paywall, other online accounts relayed the content of his posts.
The Observer noted, however, that Loftis’s views on the coronavirus crisis had evolved as more information became available.
Shortly after the county issued its March 26 stay-at-home orders, he supported the collective effort, posting, “Folks stay home … we’re not on vacation. We’re fighting a killer virus.”
But by April, Loftis was more concerned by the growing streak of totalitarianism being exerted by mostly left-wing officials, such as Gov. Cooper, to demand compliance.
“What I worry about. COVID-19: 0.5, Loss of my rights: 99.5. You should be worried also,” Loftis posted in a pie-chart graphic.
Even the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, after relying on dubious overestimates from a University of Washington model, not only dramatically revised its estimates but encouraged medical facilities to loosen the standard for what were considered coronavirus fatalities, subsequently including among them any “probable” deaths, whether diagnosed with COVID or not.