This undated electron microscope image made available by the U.S. National Institutes of Health in February shows the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Image: NIAID-RML via AP
A man who was skeptical of the COVID-19 pandemic has changed his stance after contracting the novel coronavirus itself in Florida, United States.
Brian Hitchens just last month used to believe that the pandemic was something the government made up and admittedly downplayed its seriousness, as per NBC-affiliate WPTV yesterday, May 13.
He used to tell others that “God is bigger than this virus will ever be” and actively voiced out that the virus was just a “distraction,” until he and his wife got infected.
Currently in confinement, Hitchens has now changed his opinion and is now warning others of the severe consequences of the disease.
“Many people still think that the [coronavirus] is a fake crisis which at one time I did too and not that I thought it wasn’t a real virus going around but at one time I felt that it was blown out of proportion and it wasn’t that serious,” he said yesterday in a public Facebook post.
“We kept on watching the news and kept on hearing about the spreading of the [coronavirus] and to be honest I didn’t really think nothing of it I still thought it was being blown out of proportion,” he added.
Hitchens said that around last month, he started to feel sick, stopped working and chose to stay in quarantine with his wife, who also began to show symptoms shortly after he did.
“A few days went by and we both started feeling worse and worse and worse to the point where we barely had any energy left to do anything and all we want to do is sleep,” he stressed.
Around a week after, the couple went to the hospital and got tested for COVID-19, the results of which both came back positive. They have been confined to a hospital’s intensive care unit (ICU) for three weeks now, as of writing.
Hitchens noted that while he has begun to feel a lot better, his wife is still on a ventilator and is in bad condition.
“My wife has been sick before in the past quite a few times and she always fought through to get better but now after [three] weeks I have come to accept that my wife may pass away and the peace I have about it is that I know without a shadow of a doubt that she will be going home to be with the Lord,” he said.
Hitchens said, however, that he believes in miracles and is still “holding on to the chance that she may get healed.”
“This thing is nothing to be messed with please listen to the authorities and heed the advice of the experts. We don’t have to fear this and by heeding the advice doesn’t mean that you fear it that means you’re showing wisdom during this epidemic time,” he stressed.
He said that looking back, he should have worn a mask but he chose not to, so he is now “paying the price for it now” and noted that if he did infect his wife, she and God will forgive him.
“So just think about what I said and if you have to go out please use wisdom and don’t be foolish like I was so the same thing won’t happen to you like it happened to me and my wife,” Hitchens added.
As of writing, it is still not known when the couple will be released from the hospital, according to the report.
There are currently 1,364,061 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the U.S., of which 82,246 are fatalities, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. Ian Biong/JB
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