Buratti’s condition took a turn for the worse, perhaps unsurprisingly, after he called in to the Zanzara radio program on Radio 24, where he was a frequent and well-known commenter, and openly told listeners he was seriously ill, with a high fever, but had made a point to stroll through a crowded grocery store maskless.

He railed against pandemic-related restrictions and claimed he was “defending the constitution,” saying he would not get tested for the coronavirus because of a supposed conspiracy in which he said the test swabs themselves cause the virus.

According to Brescia Today, he went to the hospital only at the insistence of fans and Giuseppe Cruciani, the host of Zanzara, and he refused to seek treatment at a hospital in his native Mantua “because the Communists are there.”