QAnon conspiracy theorist DeAnna Lorraine reacted to the news that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott had lifted most of the state's COVID-19 restrictions by launching a project in which she dresses in scrubs and pretends to be a medical professional while walking around Austin without a mask, challenging people to convince her that masks are effective and necessary.
Lorraine, who translated a failed congressional campaign into a career spreading wild conspiracy theories as a right-wing commentator, has been a COVID-19 denier since the early days of the pandemic. And even though she is not actually a medical professional, she announced on her livestream broadcast Wednesday night that she is now going around impersonating one in order to spread conspiracy theories.
"Today was the first day basically that the governor of the state that I'm in right now—the governor of Texas—issued an executive order saying that we will no longer have or need a mask mandate in all of Texas," Lorraine said. "Today was basically day one, and that's why I'm wearing a nurse's outfit because I'm going around and I'm videotaping me going to different stores, restaurants, department stores, bars, etc... and videotaping people's reactions to me not wearing a mask and having them try to educate a doctor or a nurse on how masks save lives."
"Tell me, a doctor or a nurse, how masks somehow save lives," said Lorraine, who is neither a doctor nor a nurse. "You go ahead, you Walmart store clerk, you go ahead, you grocery store bagger, and you tell me something that I don't know already—you try to school me on something that I went to school for."
Lorraine, of course, never attended medical school.
