As Minnesota senator cast doubt on COVID-19 death tolls, conspiracy theorists pounced online
State Sen. Scott Jensen, a Chaska Republican and physician, got more attention than he bargained for this month after calling into question federal guidelines for attributing deaths to COVID-19.
Jensen, sometimes mentioned as a possible 2022 gubernatorial candidate, voiced fears that doctors could start over-diagnosing the virus and inflating its death toll in a series of interviews with television personalities from North Dakota to Fox News in New York.
His words quickly went viral around the globe and found new life fueling conspiracy theories and disinformation about the coronavirus across fringe, far-right websites.
"I'm deeply disappointed," Jensen said in an interview this week. "I think that things are being taken out of context. … But isn't that the world we live in? I mean, I think people will clip and cut and paste."
One of Jensen's earliest interviews on the subject, with Fargo TV host Chris Berg, gained significant traction among followers of the QAnon conspiracy theory, which claims that a worldwide network of satanic pedophiles controls a "deep state" pulling the levers of government. A Facebook page affiliated with the QAnon movement shared a link to Jensen's interview with its more than 144,000 followers with the comment: "What is the primary benefit to keep public in mass-hysteria re: COVID-19? Think voting. Are you awake yet?"
InfoWars, a conspiracy news site that recently claimed that the coronavirus is a man-made bioweapon meant to stoke panic, also linked to Jensen's interview and ended a post with Jensen's quote: "Well, fear is a great way to control people, and I worry about that."
https://www.startribune.com/as-minnesota-senator-cast-doubt-on-covid-19-death-tolls-conspiracy-theorists-pounced-online/569785662/
