Middle Tennessee pastor calls Delta variant nonsense, will turn away people who wear masks

MT. JULIET, Tenn. (WZTV) — A Middle Tennessee pastor with a large online following has called the Delta variant "nonsense" and says he will turn away parishioners who wear masks. But an infectious disease expert is again debunking his claims.

It's not the first time Mt. Juliet Pastor Greg Locke has made headlines for debunked claims during the pandemic. The Global Vision Bible Church pastor has previously called the COVID-19 vaccine "sugar water"and said the pandemic is "fake."

Now, Locke is calling the Delta variant, which officials say is causing recent virus surges, nonsense.

"Don’t believe this Delta variant nonsense. Stop it," Locke said in a Sunday sermon.

FOX 17 News asked Dr. David Aronoff, an infectious disease expert with Vanderbilt University Medical Center, what he thought when he hears those words.

"As an infectious disease specialist, I can tell you that both COVID-19 as a disease and the SARS Covid-2 virus is very real," Dr. Aronoff said. "The main reason for that is this particular variant of the virus, that is the Delta variant. It is highly contagious and is currently responsible for nine out of 10 infections that we are diagnosing."

During his sermon, Locke talks about renewed calls for masking - telling his parishioners if they show up with a mask, he'll ask them to leave.

"If they go through round two and you start showing up all these masks and all this nonsense, I’ll ask you to leave," Locke said.

Locke went on to comment on the possibility of more shutdowns, saying "they will be serving Frostys in hell before we shut this place down.”

"They're talking about shutting down this nation for round two. Talking about masking everybody back up, shutting down churches. My hind leg if they think they gonna shut this church down," Locke said. "Knock on my door, ask me if I got a vaccine? My hind leg. Don’t let the door hit you where the good Lord split you."

Dr. Aronoff said it's painful to see people spread misinformation about social distancing, wearing masks or getting vaccinated because "all of those things are needed to protect the people of Tennessee and to make sure we don’t lose any more lives to COVID-19."

"When we see people who are in leadership positions in their community, telling people not to wear masks or not to worry about social distancing or not to get vaccinated, it’s troubling," Dr. Aronoff said. "It’s very similar to someone in a leadership position telling someone to drink and drive. Why would they do that...It’s really contrary to good public health sense."

Right now, COVID-19 cases are surging in Nashville, Vanderbilt University's Microbiome center noting the city had three consecutive days of an 8% positivity rate or higher.

There are also 370 breakthrough COVID-19 cases in Davidson County, including three deaths and 17 hospitalizations.