Jerry Falwell Jr. last week partially reopened his Liberty University ― an evangelical Christian school in Lynchburg, Virginia ― despite the spread of the coronavirus.
Now, The New York Times reports that nearly a dozen students have symptoms that could suggest infection ― and Falwell is facing the wrath of both parents and critics.
One parent slammed the decision to reopen as “crazy, irresponsible and seems like a money grab.” Falwell, as the Times notes, fired back with a tweet calling that parent a “dummy.”
Falwell on Twitter said no students on campus are sick with coronavirus, and one off-campus tested positive “from local contacts in the community.” He also said the school was “embracing its responsibility to care for students instead of running away.”
Falwell has been a coronavirus conspiracy theorist, claiming an “overreaction” to the threat is really an attempt to make President Donald Trump look bad.
“Impeachment didn’t work, and the Mueller report didn’t work, and Article 25 didn’t work,” he said earlier this month on Fox News, which has consistently given voice to conspiracy theories. “And so maybe now this is their next attempt to get Trump.”
People on Twitter slammed Falwell for the opening the school and putting his students at risk ― with some suggesting that he face lawsuits or even criminal charges:
The headline of this article has been updated in light of the school’s response to a New York Times’ report that students at the school were sick.
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