Rep. Barry Loudermilk made the remarks during a “Peaceful Protest Biblical Citizenship Barnstorming Tour” event in Georgia over the weekend. The congressman unfavorably compared young people who are currently concerned about COVID-19 to American World War II soldiers on D-Day, while recalling a moment where President Donald Trump acknowledged a veteran during an event at the American Cemetery in Normandy, France last year.

“This guy was about 17 or 18 years old when he stormed the beaches of Normandy,” Loudermilk said in a video of the event surfaced by Right Wing Watch. “The death rate of his unit was 96 percent. The death rate of COVID is .001 percent and we have young people that won’t go to the store.”

It is not clear where the .001 percent death rate that Loudermilk cited came from, with nearly all major sources and reputable medical experts estimating that U.S. death rates are significantly higher. The current observed COVID-19 death rate, based on the number of deaths divided by the number of confirmed cases, is 1.9 percent, according to Johns Hopkins University.

When only counting “closed cases,” those that have an outcome of either recovery or death, the U.S. fatality rate is a little higher than 3 percent, according to Worldometer. Death rates do rise exponentially with age, so a person aged 17 or 18 would be much less likely to die than an elderly person, although it is not clear that their overall risk would be as low as .001 percent.

Regardless, youth does not prevent those who contract the virus from passing it on to others who may be far more vulnerable. Not taking precautions like limiting opportunities for exposure can significantly increase the chances of the virus spreading. Some young people may be reluctant to make unnecessary shopping trips out of concern of infecting others, rather than solely the fear of dying of the virus themselves.

Despite encouraging news that effective vaccines may soon be available in the U.S., there is no sign that the pandemic is currently losing steam. Record highs of both new cases and new deaths have been recorded in recent weeks. There have been 15,678 COVID-19 deaths, along with over 1.4 million new confirmed cases, reported in the country during the past week alone. Total cases numbered 14,949,299 as of Tuesday, with over 283,703 deaths since the pandemic began.

Newsweek reached out to Loudermilk’s office for comment.