Volusia County Councilman Fred Lowry 'in the hospital wrestling with COVID-19'

DELAND — Volusia County Councilman Fred Lowry is hospitalized with COVID-19, County Chair Jeff Brower announced Tuesday.

"He is in the hospital wrestling with COVID-19. It's been about three weeks now," Brower said as Tuesday's council meeting kicked off with Lowry's chair empty for the second week.

Lowry missed last week's special meeting on the budget. He last attended a meeting Aug. 17.

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Lowry, a 66-year-old registered Republican, is midway though his second four-year term on the Volusia County Council, representing Deltona, Enterprise and parts of DeBary and Osteen. He was a Deltona City Commissioner from 2010 until his 2014 election to the county seat.

He attracted controversy this summer for promoting conspiracy theories, including some about the coronavirus pandemic, in a sermon at Deltona Lakes Baptist Church.

"We did not have a pandemic, folks. We were lied to," Lowry said in the May 30 sermon.

He referred to Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, as "Dr. Falsey" — "I did not mispronounce that. That’s the way I wanted to say it." — and labeled him a liar and pervert. He also took issue with media coverage of the COVID-19 treatment hydroxychloroquine and the theory coronavirus originated in a Wuhan lab.

This is a developing story. Stay tuned for updates.