‘It tortures you’: Hillsville mayor says his COVID-19 battle caused him to take virus seriously

HILLSVILLE, Va. – A local mayor said his battle with COVID-19 caused him to take the disease more seriously.

Hillsville mayor Greg Crowder tested positive for COVID-19 and said, “This is absolutely awful and it tortures you,” in a Facebook post on Tuesday.

Crowder explained that he had previously bragged about how he didn’t let the virus change his life, but said his experience with the disease made him realize how serious it is.

“I’m sharing this so maybe someone with the mind set I had will give the virus the respect that it deserves, not to fear it but respect it,” Crowder wrote.

Crowder said before he got COVID-19 he “kind of liked” his odds against it, in terms of the death and hospitalization rates.

“But when you realize you’ve got this, them odds don’t seem so good. You get a dose of reality real quick,” Crowder wrote.

On Tuesday, Crowder said he was on his 7th day of running a fever between 101 and 104 degrees.

“I never could imagine how bad a muscle and joints could hurt. I have ran a fever for so long I can’t turn my neck I can’t slant my eyes I can barely walk from the sheer pain. I can’t get comfortable, I sleep 30 minutes at a time” Crowder wrote.

Crowder ended his post with a warning to others to wear masks and wash your hands “every chance you get.”