Essex Town Councillor Chris Vander Doelen admitted the coronavirus has taken a greater toll on his body than he initially anticipated.
During Monday night's meeting, the Ward 3 Essex councillor said people should not take the virus lightly.
"I lost 12 pounds, which is the most weight I've lost in 40 years," Vander Doelen said. "I wasn't able to eat for 10 days, I could not lift my head off the pillow for many days. It was scary."
His testimony of the virus comes after he made a controversial statement about COVID-19 on Twitter earlier this month.
The comment where he called the virus the "Chinese flu" caused significant backlash from the community and other local politicians.
Also in the tweet, Vander Doelen said the "punishment" for having to quarantine while sick with COVID was worse than the illness itself.
Though Vander Doelen did not further address his comments or apologize for the tweet, he did call COVID-19 "the disease whose source we cannot discuss."
https://twitter.com/winstarvander/status/1380558955596939265
Vander Doelen added that while he struggled to breathe at times, especially while trying to sleep, he feels "terribly" for the people who require a stay in the ICU on a ventilator.
"I just think that maybe this council should re-think a bit when it starts squalling that the provincial government are all idiots and they should let us all out," he said.
"Maybe we should just let the professionals handle this, and we should take their advice. And those of us who know we're at risk, we should stay home and look after each other."
