BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) — Decatur City Councilman Hunter Pepper announced on social media that he has tested positive for COVID-19 and has received treatment at Decatur Morgan Hospital.

“Well, it has finally happened to me,” Pepper, 19, posted on Facebook Wednesday afternoon.

According to the post, Pepper tested positive twice for COVID-19 earlier that morning and was experiencing trouble breathing.

“As I can tell you, it feels terrible not to be able to breathe,” he wrote.

Despite his breathing troubles and fear of the virus, Pepper said he has faith: “The media continues to report on COVID-19 and explains ‘Death’ each time they do. That is honestly terrifying to me but I have faith in the lord.”

Thursday, Pepper posted an update to Facebook that said he had gone to Decatur Morgan Hospital Wednesday evening due to increased breathing difficulty. Pepper said a CT scan showed he has “COVID-Pneumonia.”

Other city council members and city officials have checked in on him, Pepper said, and he also stated he plans to attend the upcoming City Council Meeting Monday via phone.

“If I am well enough, I will be attending the meeting via the phone as in I will call in to the meeting and vote over the phone, again, if I’m well enough,” he said.

Back in March, Pepper was asked to resign by fellow city councilman Billy Jackson, who said Pepper “has no business representing” residents in Decatur after a racially insensitive social media post Pepper had put up two years before surfaced.

In the 2018 post, Pepper implied that demonstrators protesting the police killing of a Black man should be run over. Though Pepper has since apologized, Jackson did not feel that his apology rectified the situation and called for his resignation. Pepper still sits on the Decatur City Council.