It’s come to this:  Mississippi State Health Officer Thomas Dobbs has released a statement telling the residents of his state to stop taking livestock medications to stop the spread or severity of the coronavirus, stressing that they’re not only dangerous, but they are ineffective against COVID-19, the Associated Press reports.

Conservative politicians and pundits, including Fox News host Laura Ingraham, have promoted the horse deworming medicine ivermectin.  This has led to a shocking increase in calls to poison control centers after people have purchased the drug at farm supply stores.  Mississippi estimates that 70% of calls to poison control stem from people taking drugs meant for animals.

“Patients should be advised to not take any medications intended to treat animals and should be instructed to only take ivermectin as prescribed by their physician,” State Epidemiologist Dr. Paul Byers wrote in a memo Friday. “Animal drugs are highly concentrated for large animals and can be highly toxic in humans.”

Mississippi is battling record highs for new infections–more than 7,200 confirmed cases were reported in the state on Monday–while rational politicians and leaders attempt to undo the damage done by people, overwhelmingly Donald Trump supporters, have told their followers to avoid getting vaccinations because something, something “freedom.”

Rather than taking one of the three vaccines that have been tested by the Food and Drug Administration and issued on an emergency use authorization because they say the vaccines will somehow lead to government control of them, many Mississippians are taking an untested and unapproved deworming at concentrations designed to treat a horse.