Unvaccinated Michigan Diner Owner Who Rallied Against Shutdown Dies of COVID-19

An unvaccinated Michigan diner owner who refused a state shutdown during the coronavirus pandemic has died of COVID-19.

John Scott Parney Sr., who owned the Quincy Diner in southern Michigan, died on Dec. 14 at a Battle Creek hospital. The  62-year-old was first hospitalized with the virus in late September but returned home a few days later.

According to an online fundraising campaign, Parney’s condition continued to decline, and loved ones found him “incoherent” and confused in his bed two days later.

Parney defiantly kept his Diner open during the state shut down because his wife, Paula, is battling colon cancer, and he needed the money to pay her medical bills.

“John’s stats were dangerously low, and he was immediately placed in isolation and given oxygen,” the website explained. “No one would have ever expected what the next 43 days would have brought to our sister, Paula, and their family.”