North Dakota lawmaker Jeff Hoverson, who announced he was recovering from Covid on Sunday ahead of a anti-vaccine mandate rally he had organised for Monday
North Dakota lawmaker Jeff Hoverson organized an anti-vaccine mandate rally this week, but failed to show up after becoming infected with coronavirus.
Republican Rep. Hoverson posted on Facebook Sunday that he was 'quarantining and each day is getting better.'
However, the Minot lawmaker said he is taking the deworming drug ivermectin as a COVID-19 treatment, and has not checked into a hospital.
Ivermectin is not an approved Covid-19 treatment, with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issuing warnings over the potential risks in using it as such.
'Covid is real and like a really bad flu,' Hoverson wrote.
Hoverson, a pastor, told The Associated Press that was diagnosed last week.
'I'm feeling rough,' he said on Monday. 'But this ivermectin is keeping me out of the hospital.'
Ivermectin is designed to fight parasitic infections but conservative commentators have promoted it as a treatment for COVID-19, despite a lack of conclusive evidence that it helps. 'It's making me better,' Hoverson said.
The North Dakota Legislature returned to Bismarck Monday for a special five-day session during which a bill to prevent vaccine mandates will almost certainly gain approval.
House Majority Leader Chet Pollert said Hoverson could participate remotely.
North Dakota's Republican leadership and GOP Gov. Doug Burgum have said they oppose such mandates and the state has joined a federal lawsuit challenging President Joe Biden's COVID-19 vaccine rules.
Although Hoverson will not attend the rally at North Dakota's statehouse, he said three of his teenage children will be there. It is unclear whether they attended.
Hoverson is among the most far-right legislators in the GOP-controlled Legislature.
He introduced legislation last session to repeal mask mandates and he sponsored failed legislation that would have made it a felony to help women access abortions.
Last month, he was barred from boarding a flight at Minot International Airport after a run-in with a security agent.
Pictured: People attend a 'We the People' rally held on the grounds of the state Capitol in Bismarck, North Dakota on Monday, Nov. 8, 2021. North Dakota lawmaker Jeff Hoverson organised the rally, but couldn't attend after falling to Covid-19
And as a freshman legislator two years ago, Hoverson protested a prayer by a Hindu cleric, saying he didn't 'want to be compelled to pray for a false god.'
Hoverson is the latest public figure to have tested positive for the virus after railing against mask or vaccine mandates.
At least four conservative radio talk-show hosts who shared anti-vaccine and anti-mask sentiments died of the virus in August.
These included 65-year-old Marc Bernier who was self-described as 'Mr. Anti-Vax'.
Others were Phil Valentine, 61, who was a popular radio host in Tennessee, Jimmy DeYoung, 81, a Christian preacher also based in Tennessee and Dick Farrel, 65, who had worked for a number of radio stations in Miami and Palm Beach, Florida.
In September, popular podcast host Joe Rogan, who has also downplayed the need for coronavirus vaccines and touted ivermectin as a treatment, also announced he had tested positive for Covid-19.
Writing on Facebook, Hoverson said: 'Thank you, brave soul, for getting me Ivermectin, which now with covid, I am able to stay out of the hospital.' He did not identify who gave him the drug.
In recent month, the FDA and other public health agencies have roundly urged people to avoid taking the unproven treatment after being touted by the liked of Rogan, whose Spotify podcast has millions of listeners.
Authorities have warned taking the drug could be 'dangerous' and potentially fatal, with neither the FDA or the CDC approving the drug as a Covid treatment.
Last month, CNN refused to apologize to podcaster Joe Rogan for their claims that he took 'horse dewormer' ivermectin for his COVID-19 infection, even after the network's own doctor Sanjay Gupta groveled over the incident on Rogan's podcast.
Rogan's key complaint against CNN is that they did not explain that there were two types of ivermectin: one that's meant for people that Rogan took, left, and one for livestock
In a statement to the Washington Post, the media network wrote, 'The only thing CNN did wrong here was bruise the ego of a popular podcaster who pushed dangerous conspiracy theories and risked the lives of millions of people in doing so.'
CNN had gone after Rogan for promoting the anti-parasitic medication, along with other treatments prescribed by doctors, to fight the COVID infection he caught in September.
Rogan had fired back at the news outlet for not specifying that he took the version of ivermectin prescribed for human use rather, than the version used for livestock.
Studies have shown that Ivermectin decreases viral loads and may prevent COVID deaths, but the Food and
