“Here’s the argument for the case for lockdown — if Dr. Porter is correct; big if,” Trakas tweeted.

Ernie Trakas St. Louis County Councilman Ernie Trakas, at a county council meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2019. Photo by Troy Stolt, tstolt@post-dispatch.com

On March 17, Trakas retweeted conservative activist Candace Owens downplaying the danger of the new coronavirus. “The US Surgeon General says the average age for death is 80 years old and children and young adults are MORE LIKELY to die from the flu. So how come we never shut down society to protect children from the flu?”

The same day, Trakas retweeted her saying conservatives “have really lost the thread with this one. All the Left had to do was find something they were afraid of to prove that they too would give up all of their liberties for state control which is increasing every day. I continue to disagree with all of it.”

He tweeted: “Ditto!!!”

Interviewed on Monday, Trakas said he agreed with Page that the pandemic “is a serious matter that requires serious measures by everyone, including a voluntary stay-at-home and self quarantine.”