Republican Ohio State Representative Nino Vitale said on Facebook Monday that despite the risk of community spread coronavirus, he would not wear a face mask because covering the face would hide the image of God.
Vitale has opposed coronavirus guidelines issued by Ohio Governor Mike DeWine and the director of the Ohio Department of Health Dr. Amy Acton. On social media, Vitale has used the hashtag #MasksDoNotWork on some of his posts.

Acton said during an April news briefing that Ohians may be wearing face coverings for a year in order to help quell the spread of coronavirus. "Don your mask," Acton said. "Don your cape."

On his Facebook page, Vitale said he would defy the requests of his state's government's on religious ground.

"This is not the entire world," Vitale wrote. "This is the greatest nation on earth founded on Judeo-Christian Principles. One of those principles as that we are all created in the image and likeness of God. That image is seen the most by our face. I will not wear a mask."

"When we think about the image and likeness of God—we're created in the image and likeness of God—when we think of image, do we think of a chest or our legs or our arms? We think of a face," Vitale said in a video on his Facebook page. "That's the image of God right there, and I want to see it in my brothers and sisters."