A prominent conspiracy theorist who promoted QAnon and routinely spread misinformation about COVID-19 and its corresponding vaccines has died in a California hospital after contracting the virus.
The Daily Beast reported on Friday that Cirsten Weldon, who accrued tens of thousands of followers on right-wing social media platforms like Telegram, died in a Camarillo, California hospital on Thursday. Weldon posted on Instagram on Dec. 31 that she was hospitalized in California with "bacterial pneumonia," which SFGATE reported on Sunday is common shorthand in anti-vaccine communities to describe a coronavirus hospitalization without confirming someone had the virus.
Fellow QAnon influencer Scott McKay, who goes by the name "Patriot Streetfighter," posted on Telegram that Weldon died on Thursday in a Camarillo hospital. He didn’t say she had COVID-19, but he alleged the hospital refused to treat her with ivermectin and "HCQ," the latter of which is shorthand for hydroxychloroquine.
Both drugs are disproven COVID-19 remedies among people who deny the seriousness of the virus and the efficacy of the vaccines. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has advised the public to not use either drug as at-home coronavirus treatments.
Weldon promoted a number of conspiracy theories on her social media accounts, including QAnon – which alleges Satanic pedophiles control the U.S. government, media and financial industries – and COVID-19 vaccine denialism. She recorded videos explaining QAnon with comedian and conspiracy theorist Roseanne Barr, as well as one in which she harassed people waiting in line to be vaccinated against the coronavirus.
"The vaccines kill, don’t get it!" Weldon said in a video posted to one of her accounts, according to the Daily Beast and SFGATE. "This is how gullible these idiots are. They’re all getting vaccines!"
Three days before posting she was hospitalized, Weldon said in her last recorded video that she felt "exhausted" and "weak" while repeatedly coughing. Weldon posted on Telegram that she refused to take remdesivir, a COVID-19 treatment, after she was hospitalized, according to the outlets.
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