Twitter temporarily locked the account of The Federalist Wednesday after the conservative opinion site published a piece, written by a dermatologist based in Oregon, that proposed the deliberate spread of the coronavirus in order to boost immunity to the disease.

The op-ed, penned by Dr. Douglas Perednia, proposed an “outside the box” solution to the current pandemic that flies in the face of advice from experts, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, who are urging social distancing.

Perednia wrote that a “controlled infection” — modeled after the “chickenpox parties” of the last century — is the measure that should be considered.

A Controlled Voluntary Infection (CVI) “involves allowing people at low risk for severe complications to deliberately contract COVID-19 in a socially and medically responsible way so they become immune to the disease,” the doctor wrote.

“It is time to think outside the box and seriously consider a somewhat unconventional approach to COVID-19: controlled voluntary infection,” The Federalist wrote in a now-removed tweet linking to the op-ed.

Twitter initially added a warning to the link stating that the post might be “unsafe.”

Then, according to a Twitter spokesperson, “the account was temporarily locked for violating the Twitter Rules regarding COVID-19.”

The tweet was deleted, and the Federalist Twitter page appears to be back up and running. Twitter has taken aggressive measures to crack down on misinformation surrounding the coronavirus.

Federalist co-founders Sean Davis and Ben Domenech did not respond to Mediaite’s request for comment.

Twitter users ripped the site for publishing the story:

did the coronavirus write this? https://t.co/pqF2zL0Zqk — Christopher Ingraham (@_cingraham) March 25, 2020

I am continually flabbergasted that The Federalist is running these kinds of takes, especially after one of their staff writers, Bre Payton, died in 2018 from H1N1 flu https://t.co/syKkw08V6H — Jared Holt (@jaredlholt) March 25, 2020

The medical community is overwhelmed right now but sure, let’s be idiots and infect ourselves. Who funds The Federalist? https://t.co/fZLYUpFuts — Bradley P. Moss (@BradMossEsq) March 25, 2020

I think this is the fifth time in the past year and a half that I’ve been glad The Federalist fired me, sparing me the necessity of having to quit in protest. https://t.co/KbWxLWTcHg — Robert Tracinski (@Tracinski) March 25, 2020

The Federalist death cult in action. These psychopaths are going to get people killed. https://t.co/ZzuGAPAHzx — Mark Joseph Stern (@mjs_DC) March 25, 2020

You guys got this! Put the virus where your mouth is. Buona fortuna! https://t.co/LrtEa4i8J3 — Gary Shteyngart (@Shteyngart) March 25, 2020

You first dude https://t.co/LxiyuPJx3n — Don Moynihan (@donmoyn) March 25, 2020

Are you fucking mental? https://t.co/NyJNDnHL8L — Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) March 25, 2020

This is dangerous, weapons-grade disinformation that appears engineered to try to kill as many people as possible. Please do not follow this advice. https://t.co/xI07NPMxoq — Brooke Binkowski (@brooklynmarie) March 25, 2020

I’m going to have to pass on this strategy https://t.co/FrtOwYkaqP — Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) March 25, 2020

I’m so old, I remember last week when people were making jokes that this was coming next https://t.co/ugFhoThgnp — Extremely Socially Distant Tom Tomorrow (@tomtomorrow) March 25, 2020

I invite everyone from the Federalist to seal themselves in their offices and test out this approach. https://t.co/XlotADI9RY — Gary Legum (@GaryLegum) March 25, 2020

Why are conservatives trying to kill each other https://t.co/UpWhMcBG1R — dylan matthews (@dylanmatt) March 25, 2020

this is *really* outside the box when you consider that scientists aren’t yet sure if you even develop an immunity to coronavirus after you have it the first time https://t.co/Ak55S0Bd1G — Matt Binder (@MattBinder) March 25, 2020

And we have a Darwin Award winner.

Please no more entries. https://t.co/L5kYT4uKWH — Rick Hasen (@rickhasen) March 25, 2020

no, please just stay inside the box for a few weeks, it’s really not that much to ask https://t.co/s5Fk8lEyer — Josh Billinson (@jbillinson) March 25, 2020

As to who funds the Federalist, that is still unknown at this time.

Who funds The Federalist? https://t.co/VgJNhNxfta — JJ MacNab (@jjmacnab) March 25, 2020

Well I guess the good news is we’ll find out who funds the Federalist when they die of COVID-19 https://t.co/yJiAWeDQCe — Adam Weinstein (@AdamWeinstein) March 25, 2020

after a sleepless night warging and scrying at a crossroads with a brass bowl of goat tears, I’m both relieved and distressed to report that I have discovered who fund the Federalist: Satan himself https://t.co/SHY2TQaayi — inverted vibe curve (@PatBlanchfield) March 25, 2020

Maybe their secret funding really is a hostile foreign power. https://t.co/PdcQ31TkPf — S.V. Dáte (@svdate) March 25, 2020

Does the virus fund the federalist? https://t.co/neVAK3TjZ7 — Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) March 25, 2020

[READ: Doctor Who Wrote Op-Ed on Coronavirus Infection Parties Says Federalist Made Unwanted Edits to Piece]

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