A local state legislator whose district is one of the hardest-hit centers for COVID-19 cases in Pennsylvania unleashed a blistering attack on pandemic deniers who showed up on his Facebook page.

Rep. Mike Schlossberg, D-Lehigh, expressed his frustration in a Facebook post during the weekend in which he said those who try to downplay the severity of the contagion are risking people’s lives.

Schlossberg has been providing a daily podcast on his Facebook feed to bring constituents up to date on the COVID-19 pandemic and to urge them to take precautions to halt its spread.

Schlossberg’s district includes parts of hard-hit Allentown, which is fast becoming one of the latest epicenters in Pennsylvania, along with Philadelphia and Monroe and Luzerne counties.

As the county seat and largest municipality of Lehigh, Allentown has by far the most confirmed cases of any municipality in the region. Lehigh has the third most confirmed cases in the state, next to Philadelphia and Montgomery counties. On a per capita basis, Lehigh ranks second behind Monroe with the most number of cases statewide.

“If you think this is fake or don’t take it seriously,” Schlossberg posted, “you may kill someone, and you are too stupid to function in modern society.”

Schlossberg said that in addition to the deaths and health issues that the coronavirus is causing, it will cost the nation trillions of dollars, the state billions and the local tax base and school districts millions.

“It is hitting our poorest and racial minorities the hardest,” he said.

Many of Schlossberg’s constituents are black and Hispanic and live in low-income parts of the city. These and other factors are conspiring to put them at a much higher risk to contract the virus than other segments of the population, he said.

Schlossberg had a pointed message to deniers and those who refuse to follow the mandates and guidelines issued by the state Health Department: “gag your-self … disconnect your Internet … and delete your social media presence …”