Alabama Councilmember, 19, Who Opposed Mask Mandates, Hospitalized With COVID-19

Hunter Pepper, who became the youngest councilmember to be ever elected in the Decatur City, Alabama, said he is now suffering from COVID-19 pneumonia.

“Confirming last night after a ‘CT-Scan’ I am now shown to have ‘Covid Pneumonia’ which is absolutely terrible,” Pepper said Thursday on Facebook, which he took down the next day.

Pepper’s post came just a day after he announced he was diagnosed with COVID-19. He had previously been outspoken in his opposition to mask mandates.

“Unfortunately, this morning I have confirmed two positive test for COVID-19,” Pepper wrote on Facebook Wednesday, just a day before he was diagnosed with COVID pneumonia. “Everything in me wants to tell myself it is something different but every way I look it’s “Covid this, Covid that” and it has terrified me and my family.”

In his Wednesday post, he has also mentioned that breathing is already difficult at this moment.

“Maybe this will clear up soon and the symptoms of this sickness shall not progress as I can tell you, it feels terrible not to be able to breathe,” Pepper added.