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Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, who has received national attention for his refusal to enforce the coronavirus mask warrants, revealed on Wednesday January 27 that he had tested positive for the virus and exhibited mild symptoms of the COVID-19.
Bianco said he has been in quarantine at home since testing positive on January 19.
“I couldn’t taste my coffee,” Bianco said in an interview. “I was, ‘Oh, something’s wrong.'”
Bianco, 53, said he still lacks the senses of taste and smell.
The sheriff announced his diagnosis in a Facebook post, prompted by what he said were false rumors he was dying and in hiding. Rumors of the disease escalated on social media Tuesday when Bianco failed to attend the board of supervisors meeting for a discussion on the sheriff’s department asking for additional $ 3 million in emergency funding against coronaviruses.
Bianco led the sheriff’s department with phone calls and Zoom meetings.
“People would never know I wasn’t at work, other than the background being the kitchen instead of the office. I had to put the dogs outside several times, ”he says.
Bianco said he does not believe any member of his command staff has been infected due to potential exposure to him.
Everyone in the house, and some who don’t live there, have been infected, Bianco said. He believes the first to be infected was his son-in-law, an MP who, on the same shift, performed CPR on a child who had tested positive and fought with a man whose household was also positive to COVID.
“If I’m going to have COVID because my son-in-law performed CPR on a child, I will take COVID any day,” Bianco said.
The sheriff earned praise and criticism for his candid comments on the coronavirus, stating at one point: ‘If you’re afraid of going to jail and catching the virus, don’t go to jail, don’t violate not the law. ” Two of his deputies died from the virus.
In November, Cal / OSHA fined the Sheriff’s Department nearly $ 18,000 for violating state COVID-19 regulations at the Cois M. Byrd detention center in the French Valley – fines the county appealed.
In a Dec. 4 YouTube video, Bianco – while asking the public to mask themselves and to stay away socially – accused Gov. Gavin Newsom of trying to force counties to implement his stay-at-home order, which has since been lifted.
In May, Bianco told supervisors in Riverside County he would not enforce the county’s now-defunct trade restrictions.
While Bianco isn’t the only sheriff to put educating members of the public ahead of quoting them, his challenge has made him a hero of lockdown enemies across the country and a popular figure in conservative media. . He has been interviewed on Fox News and One America News Network.
But this challenge has also drawn criticism.
Dolores Green, executive director of the Riverside County Medical Association, said she was concerned the lack of law enforcement would encourage large gatherings that could spread the virus.
Bianco previously said the coronavirus was real. But he said on Wednesday that while he thinks masks can be helpful, they’re not the total solution to preventing transmission of the virus. He said he wore masks in public more to put others at ease than to limit the risk of infection.
The sheriff said it was difficult to avoid such a widespread virus and credits his family’s recovery to a healthy lifestyle. He said he was not planning to get the vaccine.
Bianco said he believes people with good immune systems are less likely to suffer from severe symptoms of COVID-19 or die.
“What’s not going to come out of all of this, and I wish it would, doctors (doctors) won’t tell people, government won’t tell people and I don’t think it is.” sexy enough to be reported in the media, people need to take better care of themselves. I know there are exceptions. But with that, we know that if you’re not healthy, you might not get over it, ”Bianco said.
The World Cancer Research Fund International agrees that a healthy lifestyle can improve a body’s ability to resist infections.
However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says getting the vaccine is an important step in preventing the virus from contracting. And wearing a mask is high on the list of ways to slow the spread of CDC, including staying at least six feet from people outside your household and avoiding crowds.
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