‘SHALLOW IN BREATHING’

Hunter Pepper, a 19-year-old council member who vowed to “fight to the end” against a mask mandate in Decatur, Alabama, revealed he’s been hospitalized with shallow breathing.Zoe RichardsBreaking News ReporterUpdatedSep. 16, 20216:07PM ETPublishedSep. 16, 20213:14PM ET

A teenage city council member in Morgan County, Alabama, who tested positive forCOVID-19on Wednesday afterrailing against mask mandatessaid he’s nowbattling coronavirus-related pneumonia in the hospital.

“I am still shallow in breathing but my oxygen remains okay for now,” Decatur City Councilman Hunter Pepper, 19, wrote on Facebook Thursday. He received a CT scan on Wednesday night that confirmed he has COVID pneumonia, “which is absolutely terrible,” he wrote.ADVERTISING

On Wednesday, Pepper—who’s repeatedly slammed mask mandates and refused to get vaccinated— said that he took two rapid tests and a PCR test for the coronavirus after he started to feel sick on Monday.