Anna Camp is urging people to wear masks after her own scary experience with COVID-19.
The “Pitch Perfect” actor, 37, revealed she had contracted the coronavirus in an Instagram post on Tuesday.
“Hi friends... I felt it was my responsibility to share that I ended up getting Covid-19,” she wrote. “I have since tested negative, but I was extremely sick for over three weeks and still have lingering symptoms.”
She said she believes she may have caught the virus when she stepped out in public once without a mask.
“I was incredibly safe. I wore a mask. I used hand sanitizer. One time, when the world was starting to open up, I decided to forgo wearing my mask in public. One. Time. And I ended up getting it,” she wrote. “I believe it may have been because of that one time.”
Camp also described what it was like to have COVID-19.
“People are saying it’s like having the flu, but I’ve had the flu, and this is absolutely not that,” she explained. “The panic of contracting a virus that is basically untreatable and is so new that no one knows the long term irreparable damage it does to your immune system is unbelievably stressful."
She continued: "Completely losing my sense of smell and taste without knowing when or even if they will return is extremely disorienting. I’m only smelling about 30 percent of how I used to now. Other persistent symptoms are (a month later) dizziness, extreme fatigue, impacted sinuses, upset stomach, nausea, vomiting, and fever.”
Face coverings can be an effective way to slow the spread of the coronavirus, according to two studies released this month. One report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that mask-wearing may have prevented the spread of the virus at a hair salon in Springfield, Missouri.
Two stylists who later tested positive for COVID-19 worked at the salon while displaying respiratory symptoms. However, when officials tested 67 of their clients who had come into contact with the stylists, none of them were positive. Both the stylists and clients had worn face coverings at the salon.
In her Instagram post, Camp said she feels lucky not to have died from the virus.
“But people are (dying)," she added. “Please wear ur mask. It can happen any time. And it can happen to anyone. Even that one time you feel safe. We can all make a difference. Wearing a mask is saving lives.”