A Florida man who initially said he believed the coronavirus was a “fake crisis” that was “blown out of proportion” is now hospitalized with the virus, along with his wife, and he has a warning for others.

“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 Hitchens wrote in a lengthy Facebook post last Tuesday.

Hitchens said he continued to downplay the pandemic until he began feeling sick and couldn’t work anymore, KTLA sister station KRON reported Monday.

Just days after he became sick, Hitchens said his wife also started feeling sick, went to a hospital and was told to self-quarantine.