Quarantined congressman's bizarre tweet on life and death is now a meme

Paul Gosar, one of two U.S. lawmakers under self-quarantine after possible exposure to the coronavirus during a conservative conference, did what any good American would do during an existential crisis. He tweeted through it.

Arizona congressman Gosar and Texas senator Ted Cruz both attended the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) about two weeks ago. A man who also attended tested positive for the novel coronavirus, which causes the disease officially known as COVID-19. Both Gosar and Cruz had "brief contact" with the man, the Los Angeles Times reports, and have self-quarantined in their homes to prevent the spread of the highly contagious virus.

Symptoms include fever, cough, shortness of breath, and breathing difficulties, the World Health Organization (WHO) says. In severe cases, it can cause kidney failure, pneumonia, and death. Since the outbreak began, health officials have confirmed 110,029 cases of coronavirus infections. As of Monday, 213 of those have been in the United States, a number that continues to rise as municipalities struggle to contain the outbreak.

In response, stores nationwide are selling out of face masks and hand sanitizer.

And despite being asymptomatic, Gosar is clearly feeling the panic. In a tweet on Monday, he wrote that he'd "been thinking about life and mortality today."

"I'd rather die gloriously in battle than from a virus," Gosar tweeted, accompanying it with a dramatic image of knights at war. "In a way it doesn't matter. But it kinda does."

OK, um. Well.

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As one Twitter user pointed out, before being elected into the House of Representatives, Gosar was a dentist. He has never served in the armed forces.

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Within minutes, Gosar's tweet was turned into a copypasta, as other Twitter users mocked his melodramatic sentiments with some lighter images.

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Naturally, the copypasta was added to another meme born from the coronavirus panic.

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You can take small comfort in the fact that even in the face of a possibly devastating viral outbreak, we'll all just tweet through it.

Don't forget that you can at least limit the spread of the coronavirus by thoroughly washing your hands.