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A Texas man who called coronavirus a “hoax” says he and 14 family members tested positive for COVID-19 after a party he hosted – and now his in-laws have rebuffed funds he raised for them online.
The infections led to the death of his partner’s grandmother and the ongoing hospitalization of his partner’s father, Rafael Ceja, who was placed on a ventilator, Dallas resident Tony Green confirmed to the Daily News in a phone interview Wednesday.
“There’s really a rift between the two families. It’s shame. There really needs to be more public awareness,” Green said.
“I wish they would take the money. They need it. But it doesn’t look like that is going to happen,” he said of the GoFundMe he started that raised $7,663 before he told donors to expect refunds.
Green told The News that both his partner and mother-in-law knew he was going public with their story in a column posted Friday on DallasVoice.com. Now that it’s gone viral, the attention is too much for some members of the “extended family,” he said.
“It’s not my call. They’re not wanting me to talk anymore,” he said Wednesday. “The refunds will happen.”
“I feel badly about it,” he said of the June 13 party that apparently led to the family outbreak.
“It’s definitely more contagious than some believe it to be, and the incubation period is controversial,” he said of the virus. “There was no warning. Bam, all of us got it.”
In his Friday column, Green described himself as a “gay conservative” who voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 election.
“All the defiant behavior of Trump’s more radical and rowdy cult followers, I participated in it. I was a hard-ass that stood up for my ‘God-given rights,'” he wrote.
“I began prognosticating the alphabet soup about this ‘scamdemic.’ I believed the virus to be a hoax. I believed the mainstream media and the Democrats were using it to create panic, crash the economy and destroy Trump’s chances at reelection,” he wrote.
He said his misplaced confidence led him to host the small family gathering on June 13. A day later, he woke up feeling sick and, a day after that, his partner and parents were sick as well, he said.
He said his in-laws who had been at the gathering also fell ill, along with his partner’s sister, the partner’s grandmother, two more relatives in his partner’s family and five unidentified people.
“My father-in-law and I both went to the hospital on June 24. The virus had attacked my central nervous system, and the staff stopped me from having a stroke,” he wrote.
Green said Wednesday his partner’s father was the last remaining relative still in the hospital.
“Most of us are feeling relatively back to normal. I’ve tested negative twice,” he said.
Green said he’s still not sure who spread the virus to the family, but he’s most concerned with others learning from his mistakes.
“Determining who gave is to us, that’s impossible to do. It’s nobody’s fault,” he said, referring to the family.
“I will just say I am very displeased with the way our government has handled this,” he said. “I’m displeased with level of misinformation, the lack of preparedness and the conflicting stories and reports about when it’s safe, when it’s not safe,” he said.