'Please just respect one another': Hospitalized former Gilbert councilman with COVID-19 shares story
Two weeks ago, Dave Crozier, an employee at the Arizona Department of Emergency and Military Affairs, was working to help the state slow the spread of COVID-19.
Now, the former Gilbert councilman is fighting for his life.
Crozier, 62, realized something was wrong on June 18. The next day, he got tested for the virus.
On Monday, the test came back positive. He went to an emergency room and was transferred to Banner Baywood Medical Center in Mesa, where he is being treated.
That day, he posted on Facebook, the first of a series of posts chronicling his experience with the virus.
“Now I’m bedridden hoping and praying things get better,” he wrote. “It can always go either way yet.”
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Sharing his experience on Facebook
Crozier served 16 years on the Gilbert Town Council through 2011, and is a familiar face to many in the town southeast of Phoenix.
He has been keeping his family, friends and neighbors updated on his condition with Facebook posts.
His wife, Trudy Crozier, also has the virus, but is quarantining at home and recovering.
According to the posts, Crozier has been given several doses of Remdesivir, an experimental drug produced in Europe that is designed to treat the virus.
On Wednesday, he posted that he had his first plasma treatment, a process in which plasma from donors who had the virus and have developed COVID-19 antibodies is intravenously pumped into an ill patient.
As of Wednesday evening, he had yet to show significant improvement. His daughter, Chrissy Crozier, said she spoke with him on the phone for about 10 minutes.
“When I was talking to him, he’s still struggling to breathe and he obviously doesn’t look like himself right now,” she said.
Crozier is not on a ventilator.
In a Facebook post on Tuesday, Crozier described his condition in detail, writing that he is “required to sleep prone on (my) stomach to drain lung lobes” and that he “must bathe in bed.”
On Wednesday evening, he wrote that the day “wasn’t much easier.”
“Always more and more challenges to deal with,” he wrote. “All the while needing more and more rest and fluids. We’ll see what tomorrow brings.”
‘Just respect one another’
As Crozier posts about his condition, he has been encouraging Gilbert residents to take precautions against the virus.
“I’ve always maintained that everyone has the (constitutional) right to swing their fists and arms in the air, scream, if they want to, right up to the point they make contact with your nose,” he wrote. “Then they’ve violated your constitutional rights. Please just respect one another.”
Chrissy Crozier said many people aren’t taking the virus seriously. She is frustrated by the number of people who refuse to wear face masks and take other precautions.
“It’s not about you, it’s about not infecting other people and just being safe,” she said. “It’s a serious disease. I think a lot of people aren’t taking it seriously and now that it’s hit so close to home – my loved family member, my father, has it – it’s definitely given me a different outlook on it for sure.”
She hasn’t been able to see her father since he checked into the hospital, and said his isolation is the “hardest part” of his COVID-19 journey so far.
She doesn’t want another family to have to go through the same thing.
“He shared his story because he wants others to be aware and wants them to be safe,” Chrissy Crozier said. “Just take it seriously and protect your loved ones.”
Gilbert cases overall
There are 2,036 reported COVID-19 cases as of June 25 in nine ZIP codes that at least partially run through Gilbert.
Gilbert's highest reported concentration of the virus is in the 85206 ZIP code, which stretches from Val Vista Drive to Power Road between Baseline Road and East Main Street. Much of the ZIP Code covers Mesa, but some parts of the area are in Gilbert.
MAPPING IT OUT: Arizona COVID-19 cases by ZIP code
There are two hospitals in the ZIP code: Banner Gateway Medical Center and Banner Baywood Medical Center. The hospitals could attribute to the higher number of reported cases in the ZIP code, as a positive case in which the patient’s home address is unknown is attributed to the hospital.
The 85206 ZIP code has 490 reported positive cases, about 127 cases per 10,000 residents.
Have a question or tip? Reach the reporter Sasha Hupka at sasha.hupka@arizonarepublic.com or on Twitter: @SashaHupka.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Gilbert man with COVID-19 posts from hospital bed, encourages precaution
