Political debate as heated as ever: Wilson County pastor calls COVID-19 'fake pandemic'

WILSON COUNTY, Tenn. (WZTV) — Coronavirus cases are continuing to surge across the country and here in Tennessee and with a vaccine on the horizon - the political debate is still as heated as ever.

Wilson County Pastor Greg Locke continues to falsely claim that COVID-19 is a "fake pandemic," while expressing resistance to masks and taking the vaccine.

It's a sentiment felt among other Tennesseans, according to recent polls.According to a VanderbiltCenter for Child Health Policy poll, Tennessee parents trust the CDC and Tennessee Department of Health the most for information about COVID-19 and vaccines.

While many church services move online or change the way they worship due to the pandemic, Locke says he's actually grown his congregation since March. He moved his church outdoors not because of COVID-19, but because of the influx of people coming in, he told CNN.

“We are not going to close our church because of COVID-19," Locke stated.

In an interview with CNN, Locke says COVID-19 is a "fake pandemic."

“I’m saying the sickness is real, I’m saying the pandemic is not," Locke commented, saying he doesn’t know what a pandemic is, but COVID-19 isn’t it. “I’m 44 years old, we’ve not experienced one in my lifetime so I don’t know.”

According to the World Health Organization, a pandemic is “an epidemic occurring worldwide, or over a very wide area, crossing international boundaries and usually affecting a large number of people”.

Experts say 70% of people need to get vaccine to help prevent spread of coronavirus. Shipments are already underway and frontline healthcare workers will be among the first to get vaccinated.

Tennessee and the U.S. hit record-highs recently of deaths, cases and hospitalizations. The virus has claimed the lives of more than 300,000 Americans, including 5,462 Tennesseans.

Read the full story from CNN here.

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