A man who used to believe that the coronavirus pandemic was a hoax after being deceived by misinformation and conspiracy theories has revealed that his wife has passed away from COVID-19.
As Brian Lee Hitchens explained, both he and his pastor wife, 46-year-old Erin Hitchens, contracted the killer bug months ago.
Due to being influenced by conspiracy theories surfacing the internet, the couple refused to seek medical attention and decided to wait it out at home.
Soon, however, both Brian and Erin were hospitalized. While the husband managed to recover fairly quickly, his wife’s condition continued to deteriorate and she was eventually put on a ventilator.
After a three-month battle with COVID-19, Erin, who also had asthma, died from heart complications caused by the disease.
“This is a real virus that affects people differently. I can’t change the past. I can only live in today and make better choices for the future,” the grieving husband said in an interview with BBC.
“She’s no longer suffering, but in peace. I go through times missing her, but I know she’s in a better place.”
As Brian said, he now wishes he had “listened from the beginning” and take the virus more seriously. He also expressed he hopes that his wife forgives him.
According to the Uber driver, neither he nor his wife paid much attention to the health guidance and safety measures imposed at the start of the pandemic. Instead, they allegedly fell prey to online conspiracy theories that claim the virus is a “faux disaster” and no worse than the regular flu.
“We thought the government was using it to distract us. Or it was to do with 5G,” Brian added in an interview with BBC.
Previously, in May, the husband took to Facebook to share his experience and urge people not to repeat his mistakes.
“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,” Brian wrote on May 12.
“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 until about 4 and 1/2 weeks ago when I started to feel sick.”
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