However, he was admitted to a local hospital with COVID symptoms late last week, longtime friend Terrence Shanigan told The Daily Beast on Thursday,
not long after he attended an Assembly meeting that involved swarms of unmasked protesters challenging a proposed mask ordinance.
Shanigan, the legislative affairs director for Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson, said that Topel’s condition had “progressed quite a bit” by the time he got to Providence Alaska Medical Center after initially seeking monoclonal antibodies treatment. “He passed out,” Shanigan said, and was rushed to the hospital by a retired nurse.
As the
Alaska Landmine first reported, Anchorage Assembly Member Jamie Allard and her supporters quickly began demanding that the hospital treat Topel with ivermectin, a drug that is not proven to treat COVID but has been touted as a miracle cure by the far-right.
...
But that didn’t stop Allard and her supporters from continuing to rally for the unproven treatment.
A source told the
Landmine that Allard and others kept at it “for days,” and continued “harassing nurses, doctors, and hospital administrators, compromising their ability to provide medical care for other patients.”
...
He said security were alerted to “three individuals attempting to enter the hospital via one of the screening stations” at about 3:30 p.m. on Oct. 9. Employees who were screening visitors had expressed concerns because the group had “asked questions about hospital policies regarding weapons and patient visitation.”
According to Canfield, when the group was denied entry due to its visitation policies, they began using their phones to take photos and videos, and then proceeded to other hospital entrances where they were again seen “attempting to gain access” while taking additional images on their devices.