Nephew of former Gov. Pat McCrory has message after testing positive for COVID-19

CHARLOTTE — Former Charlotte mayor and North Carolina governor Pat McCrory announced Wednesday his nephew, Patrick Sebastian, tested positive for COVID-19.

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Channel 9 government reporter Joe Bruno spoke to Sebastian, who had a strong message for anyone who doesn’t understand how bad the virus is.

Sebastian is an accomplished political consultant in Raleigh, and he is currently battling coronavirus.

“It's not fun at night, feel it a lot more at night,” he told Channel 9. “Aches and pains, tightness of the chest. I consider myself quite lucky that I am not in the hospital with a ventilator.”

The testing process for COVID-19 is not at all pleasant, according to Sebastian. He said if people knew more about it, they would be more likely to social distance.

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“They bring out this big long thing and they say, ‘Put your head back, it is not going to be fun.’ They stick it in there, probably for 15 seconds. I mean they stick it way back and then they count to 10 really slow. You tear up, naturally.”

Sebastian is on the mend, feeling better now than he has in the past couple of days. He says he’s fortunate his case is mild, but he wants everyone to hear the message: You could get this.

“I had a meeting outside with somebody. That person ended up having it. I was really, really careful not going to restaurants or anything like that. It can happen to anybody,” he said.

Sebastian’s wife is showing symptoms as well and is waiting on her test results.

>> In the video at the top of this webpage, Sebastian discusses his symptoms and the testing process.

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