RTE broadcaster Claire Byrne has opened up about her struggle with Covid-19, admitting she's still suffering the after-effects of the virus nearly eight months after contracting it.
Byrne, who presents the popular Today programme on RTE Radio 1 five days a week, has said she still suffers symptoms that she never previously experienced – including "brain fog".
The Laois woman said she "didn't feel sick enough not to be broadcasting" when she was first diagnosed with coronavirus back on March 16.
"I was walking around and felt find – I think I just have that work ethic, wherever that came from," she told a special episode of the Irish Times Women's Podcast.
"I was able to look after my children and homeschool them – although that's a whole other story – but I definitely felt well enough to broadcast."
But she added: "I still have allergies ... antihistamines are my best friend. I keep them on the front seat of my car because I can't broadcast when I'm clogged up.
"That was never there before."
And Byrne joked that she sometimes gets "brain fog" as a result of her experience – though she added that "that's probably just tiredness or, you know, not doing your homework or whatever."
The RTE broadcaster told Roisin Ingle on the pocast that contracting Covid-19 "was not a pleasant experience and not one I would like to repeat.
"When I hear people have been diagnosed positive, I just feel so desperately sorry for them, because there’s the initial illness which is probably about two weeks. But then there’s all the other stuff that comes afterwards."
The 45-year-old said she weathered the virus in her "Covid shed" – located in the garden of her Dublin home – before moving to the RTE studios to take over the Today programme from Sean O'Rourke.
She said Today "is the most fun show I've ever done, and I absolutely love it, but it's hard work.
"Sometimes I'm walking down the studio in RTÉ at ten to ten, and I have nine briefs that I just hope I’ve read."
