Gloria Estefan has revealed she had Covid-19 last month.
The singer opened up about her experience in a recent Instagram video, telling fans: “In the past few weeks, I have been one of the victims of Covid.”
Estefan explained that she was tipped off after losing her sense of taste and smell. The symptoms prompted her to get tested, and she got a positive test early in November.
She then “locked [herself] away” and isolated on the second floor of her house for two weeks.
“I’m very lucky that the only symptoms that I had were the loss of smell and taste and a little bit of a cough,” Estefan said.
The singer said the only time she believes she could have been infected is when she went out on 30 October for a meal.
“The reason I’m sharing this is because I want you to know how highly contagious this is,” she said. “I wear my mask everywhere. I went to a restaurant outdoors with some family – three, four of us. Everybody was negative and we wore masks all the way to the table and when we left.”
Estefan said “the only thing [she] can imagine happened” is someone “came up to me when I was eating and tapped me on the shoulder, they were very close, they had no mask and they were telling me beautiful things, but that’s the only thing that I have done outside of my enclosure here”.
The artist said she’s now recovered and has tested negative twice.
“Please everybody, wear your masks, try to stay six feet away and protect yourselves,” she added.
Florida, where Estefan is based, is among the locations currently experiencing a surge in coronavirus cases. On Tuesday, the state joined Texas and California in surpassing 1 million confirmed Covid-19 cases.
Hospitalizations have also climbed, with 4,261 Covid-19 patients. That is up from 4,139 tallied on Monday.
The state’s governor has vowed not to adopt any further restrictions or impose closures like those enacted in the spring and summer.
Additional reporting by AP
