Ohio army man, 37, who refused to wear mask dies from Covid-19 infection, Internet says 'take the hint idiots'
An army man from Ohio, Richard Rose, who had refused to wear a face mask died from coronavirus-related complications on the Fourth of July. The 37-year-old Rose, who hails from Port Clinton, had flatly refused to wear a face mask as he believed that the virus had been overhyped. Just three days after testing positive on July 1, Rose passed away due to Covid-19 complications, according to a NY Post report.
According to an online obituary, Rose had served two tours in Iraq and Afghanistan and passed away in his home. Back in April, he took to Facebook to post that he was paying no heed to official recommendations and was not wearing a mask. Check the post here. Rose had written, "Let [me] make this clear. I’m not buying a f**king mask. I’ve made it this far by not buying into that damn hype." Many social media users had commented in light of his death that went viral, mocking him for his decision not to wear a mask. There were also many users who urged people to be more compassionate and not joke about a person's misfortune.
One user who mocked Rose wrote, "And now you’re dead. Bet your family wishes you would've worn a mask." Another had shared, "RIP - Richard Rose... You're set free of the onerous burden that was the hype which might have prevented you from contracting Covid-19." Another shared, "Natural selection, RIP," while a user commented, "It's sad that he passed away, but really, take the hint, you idiots. How many of you deniers have died of this recently? And you still think it's a hoax? And you wonder why we think you're all stupid."
A friend of Rose, Nick Conley, spoke to WOIO and slammed those who were ridiculing Rose. Conley said, "Rick is getting slaughtered online right now for his decision that he made not to wear a mask and that’s not right." He added, "We should still be compassionate whether we agree with someone's beliefs or not. Someone has passed away and we should have some compassion towards that." Quite a few social media users were in agreement with what Conley said and had echoed the same sentiments in the comments on Rose's Facebook post.
One such user shared, "What the f*** is wrong with all of you laughing? The man is dead. Let his family and friends mourn. I pray that you never lose someone to this. And to have all of you commenting shit like 'oh this aged well' literally less than a week after he died makes you disgusting ass people." Another wrote, "Wtf is wrong with people??? This man died... I was raised with knowing better than to speak ill of the dead. He's no longer here to stick up for himself and y'all are just hurting his friends and family."
Rose had shared on July 1 that he had been "very sick the past few days". A little while after he had added, "Well, I'm officially under quarantine for the next 14 days. I just tested positive for Covid-19. Sucks because I had just started a new job!" The following day, he had revealed, "This Covid-19 sh*t sucks! I’m so out of breath just sitting here."
His last post had read, "When you see me in heaven don't sh*t yourself you judgmental pricks." Conley had called it "horrible that we lost Rick" and added that "the even more tragic part of that is who else became infected because of the actions that he chose". He also said he hopes Rose's death will be a warning to others. "I know a lot of people that haven't met someone that they know of that has been diagnosed with the virus and I wanted people to see it was real and my hope is that people will see that this does happen and people will be more cautious."