At the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, there was a lot of confusion about what was really going on. Because no one of this generation has dealt with an outbreak like this before, it makes sense that collectively, we were all a bit confounded. But some people really did not believe that the virus was a real threat, or they likened the outbreak to that of the flu, which, while it does kill a significant number of people, is far different. The coronavirus is far more contagious and more deadly than the seasonal flu.
Call it wishful thinking, or willful ignorance, but no matter what the facts, some people refused to believe the pandemic was as severe as reports revealed. Brian Hitchens, a ride-share driver who lives in Jupiter, Florida, was not taking the whole thing seriously. He even went on social media to share his skewed thinking with his followers. In Facebook posts, which he shared in March and April, he repeatedly downplayed the seriousness of the coronavirus. He didn't believe the pandemic was anything to be feared, in fact, until he and his wife got sick themselves.
In one post shared on April 2, he wrote: "I'm honoring what our government says to do during this epidemic but I do not fear this virus because I know that my God is bigger than this Virus will ever be. Jesus is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords." He also shared memes aimed at downplaying the seriousness of the illness. However, just a couple of weeks after making the Facebook posts, Brian and his wife started feeling ill themselves.
Brian started documenting his illness on Facebook. At first, he wrote that he and his wife were both home and feeling sick. He said that all he wanted to do was sleep. A the time, it didn't seem like he assumed he had COVID-19, but it was clear that both he and his wife weren't feeling well.
Then things got more serious. Brian and his wife were both admitted to the hospital. Brian said he "had just enough energy" to drive himself and his wife to Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center on April 19. He and his wife both tested positive for the virus.
"They admitted us right away and we both went to ICU," he shared. "I started feeling better within a few days but my wife got worse to the point where they sedated her and put her on the ventilator."
“I thought it was maybe the government trying something, and it was kind of like they threw it out there to kinda distract us,” Brian told WPTV from his hospital bed. “I'd get up in the morning and pray and trust in God for his protection, and I'd just leave it at that. There were all these masks and gloves. I thought it looks like a hysteria,” he added.
It was a very rocky road for Brian, but he's doing just fine. His wife, however, is still being treated. Now Brian has completely changed his tune about the seriousness of the pandemic. Given how vocal he was about not believing the hype, for some that wouldn't be such an easy thing to admit.
It seems like Brian is taking the high road, though. He's sharing his wisdom now and doesn't seem too worried about how it makes him look. On May 12, he wrote a lengthy Facebook post about what he's learned since contracting the illness. "Many people still think that the Coronavirus is a fake crisis which at one time I did too," he began. "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 continued, "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." While it's perhaps a tad embarrassing now, the truth is, what Brian lays out in his post is likely how a lot of people feel about the virus — if it's not hurting them at the moment, they just don't feel too worried. Rightly or wrongly, until people develop a personal link to the illness, not everyone is going to care.
Brian shared how his perspective all changed when he got sick. "I still thought it was being blown out of proportion until about 4 and 1/2 weeks ago when I started to feel sick and once I started to feel sick I stopped working and stayed home yes I came down with the Coronavirus," he wrote in his long post.
He continued on about how he and his wife got sicker and sicker until she ended up on a ventilator. It seems like they were both very afraid.
Brian even shared that he was worried his wife might die. He said there was a period of time when every time the doctors tried to take her off the ventilator, her oxygen levels would plummet. "So think about what I wrote and think about if this thing is a fake crisis. This Coronavirus affects people differently," he wrote.
"My wife has suffered from different physical ailments which she has overcome before but she sure is struggling and the doctors have said they have had a tough time on getting her better. This thing is nothing to be messed with please listen to the authorities and heed the advice of the experts."
He goes on to implore people to act with caution. He says that we don't have to live in fear, but heeding the expert advice is still good to do. It's a stunning turnaround from how sure he seemed that the expert advice was some kind of hoax just a few weeks earlier. He also acknowledged that he made some mistakes early on and could've possibly protected himself had he listened to the experts.
"Looking back I should have wore a mask in the beginning but I didn't and perhaps I'm paying the price for it now but I know that if it was me that gave it to my wife I know that she forgives me and I know that God forgives me," he wrote.
Of course, Brian has received some backlash online. Some people have been cruel — he shared a few unsettling comments on his Facebook page. But really, though Brian was definitely in the wrong to dismiss the facts surrounding the pandemic and to post those ideas on social media, it's important to acknowledge that he completely stepped up and owned his mistake. Not only that, he also went on social media to urge others not to do what he did.
Unfortunately, a lot of people still aren't paying attention to the experts. That's why it's so important that people like Brian share their stories and, hopefully, change a few minds in the process.
